Kolkata Metro has signed a two year agreement with Spykke to install power bank rental towers at 24 metro stations on the North-South Corridor. In return for a small fee passengers can borrow a power bank to recharge their mobile phones while on the move, returning it to any charging station.
The project to extend New York’s Second Avenue Subway line to 125th St in East Harlem has moved into the engineering phase of the Federal Transit Administration’s grant process. The planned extension will include three stations at 106th St, 116th St and 125th St, including an interchange with the Metro-North commuter network. The work is expcted to be financed from grants under the US Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, which was signed into law last November and includes $23bn in new funding to expand public transport. Around 70% of East Harlem residents use public transport to get to work, compared to 55% for the city as a whole.
Certifer has completed safety assessment and certification of the 1·8 km extension of Paris metro Line 4 which was inaugurated on January 13. This included assessing track, civil engineering works, fire safety, power supply and command, control and signalling systems. The company expects to be involved in the project to automate the line later this year.
New York MTA ran a commemorative train on January 9 to mark the retirement of the last 1960s era R-32 cars after 58 years. The R-32s were the first large fleet of mass-produced stainless-steel cars purchased for the subway, with a total of 600 cars built by Budd in Philadelphia; they were nicknamed Brightliners because of their washboard-like stainless steel exteriors. The first commercial service ran on September 14 1964 on what is today known as the Q Line.
Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corp has delivered permanent magnet synchronous motors and other electrical equipment for the traction systems of 336 new cars which Woojin Industrial Systems is supplying for Seoul Metro lines 1 and 7.
Two Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines have been ordered as part of the Sydney Metro West project‘s A$1·96bn Central Tunnelling Package contract awarded to the Acciona Ferrovial JV last year. The 1 266 tonne, 165 m long double-shield hard rock gripper-type TBMs will be operated by teams of 15 workers per shift and will each bore an average of 200 m per week on the 11 km twin tunnels from The Bays to Sydney Olympic Park. The two TBMs are the first of six TBMs to be used to build the 24 km tunnels from the Sydney CBD to Parramatta.
RA Integration Links has awarded Solar Group a 96·3m ringgit subcontract to supply components for the refurbishment of 50 trainsets on Kuala Lumpur’s Ampang Line. Bank Pembangunan Malaysia is providing financing.
Singapore’s Land Transport Authority has awarded Hock Lian Seng Infrastructure a S$454m contract for the design and construction of Serangoon North station and tunnels on Cross Island Line Phase 1. The station will be wider than usual as there will be a third stabling track as well as the two running lines. Sato Kogyo has been awarded a S$407m contract to design and build Tavistock station and tunnels
New York Governor Hochul has nominated Janno Lieber as Chair of the MTA Board and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; he has been Acting Chair and CEO since July 2021. Elizabeth Velez has been nominated to serve on the MTA Board; she is President of the Velez Organization, a construction firm founded by her father in 1972.
The board of Atlanta’s MARTA has named Deputy General Manager of Operations Collie Greenwood as interim General Manager & CEO, following the sudden death of Jeffrey Parker on January 14.
