Hong Kong-based Gammon Construction has won a £55m contract for construction of Chinatown station on Singapore's Downtown Line, which will provide interchange to the North East Line when Stage 1 of the DTL opens in 2013 (RG 6.07 p332).
On September 12 Chicago Transit Authority awarded a US$91·2m contract to the Kewit-Reyes joint venture for track renewals on 30·5 km of the Blue Line between Addison and O'Hare Airport, where temporary speed restrictions of 25 km/h are in force because of the poor state of the infrastructure. CTA was severely criticised by a recent National Transportation Safety Board report into a derailment on the Blue Line in July 2006.
Greater Toronto Transportation Authority has approved plans to order 20 more bi-level coaches for GO Transit at a cost of C$60m. A further C$20m will be spent on double-tracking parts of the Bradford and Stouffville lines to accommodate all-day operation on the routes from Toronto to Markham and Newmarket.
Victoria's Department of Infrastructure is studying proposals for an A$10bn cross-city rail tunnel under Melbourne. Running from Footscray in the west to South Yarra in the southeast, the 11 km tunnel would include stations at Parkeville and Melbourne University as well as in the city centre. Public transport's share of trips to the city centre has increased from 36% in 1999 to 67% in 2006, putting pressure on the suburban rail and tram networks.
On August 24 Transport for London lodged a formal Expression of Interest with the PPP Administrator to take control of Metronet BCV and Metronet SSL (RG 8.07 p461), with a view to making an offer for the two businesses by the end of September. London Underground Managing Director Tim O'Toole said 'an early exit from the administration process' would enable TfL 'to maintain the continued safe operation of the Tube network and mitigate the performance and cost risks that inevitably come with such a situation'.
Sofia Electric Transport Chief Executive Yordan Vassilev announced in August that SET has been commissioned to develop plans for a light rail line in Skopje, and to prepare a feasibility study that will support an application for EU pre-accession funding; the Macedonian capital's city government is expected to allocate finance for the line in its 2008 budget.
Bayern's Transport Ministry has selected Pöyry Infra GmbH to work with DB on development of upgrading plans for the S-Bahn routes to München Airport. The Erdinger Ringschluss package A includes four-tracking 6 km, doubling another 4 km section and construction of a flying junction between the two routes serving the airport.
