Metros
Australia: The federal government is to provide A$65m towards the construction of Brisbane's revised light rail project, also supported by the state government and the city council (RG 2.99 p71).
Canada: Edmonton city council has amended its 20-year transport plan to include an LRT extension from the University of Alberta to Southgate and the Heritage Mall at a cost of C$400m.
France: Paris metro Line 14 carried its 10 millionth passenger on February 8. The 7 km Météor route from Madeleine to Bibliothèque François Mitterrand opened on October 15 (RG 11.98 p753).
Le Mans has voted to build a 13·5 km, 30 station tram route from University in the north to Antarès, via the main station. The 1·3bn route could open in 2004-05.
Great Britain: Under the Prestige fare collection contract signed last year (RG 9.98 p568), the TranSys consortium has begun work to install ticket gates at all 154 London Underground stations currently without them. This will be completed during 1999, with the full contactless smartcard system operational by August 2002.
On February 2 Docklands Light Railway Ltd formally invited private sector proposals for construction of the planned branch to London City Airport (RG 1.99 p40).
Russia: Moskva Metro has replaced its coin and latterly token-based fare collection system with magnetic-stripe tickets. The price of a single journey has risen from 3 to 4 roubles.
Singapore: Land Transport Authority has appointed a joint venture of Mott MacDonald and Parsons Brinkerhoff Merz McLellan to advise on development of the 13 km Marina line from Kallang or Paya Lebar to People's Park, which is expected to open in 2004.
Spain: Madrid Metro opened the 4·6 km extension of Line 7 from Canal to Valdezarza on February 12, built with three intermediate stations at a cost of Pts25bn. The alignment passes beneath a major hospital, where the running rails have been earthed to minimise any electromagnetic interference with medical equipment.
Dragados has been awarded a Pts7·4bn contract to build the 2·5 km extension of Barcelona metro Line 3 from Montbau to Canyelles. With intermediate stations at Mundet and Valladura, the extension is expected to take 22 months to complete.
Turkey: Seven consortia have submitted prequalification bids for the second phase of the Izmir light rail network (RG 2.99 p70), including the Yapi Merkezi/Adtranz consortium building the first phase and a grouping of Tekser Insaat and Alstom.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has invited bids for the construction of two light rail routes, a 1·8 km extension from Yenibosna to Ataturk Airport and a 7·5 km line from the city bus terminal to Bagcilar and Mahmutbey.
The Governor of Maryland has proposed a state contribution of $30m towards double-tracking the Warren Road - Cromwell section of Baltimore's LRT route. over the next five years. The scheme has also been allocated $120m of federal funding.
