Utsunomiya Light Rail Co has taken delivery of all 17 three-section 1 067 mm gauge HU300 LRVs ordered from Niigata Transys for the 14·6 km Lightline light rail line which is under construction between Haga and Utsunomiya for opening next year.
Keolis is to succeed RATP Dev as operator of public transport services in Valenciennes under a contract running for six years from January 1 2023.
Airport Authority Hong Kong has awarded CRRC Puzhen Alstom Transportation System Co a three-year contract to operate and maintain the 2·6 km Innovia APM 300 automated peoplemover which is being built to connect Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 2 and Terminal 2 Concourse from 2024.
Lyon transport authority Sytral Mobilités is developing plans for the Tram Express de l’Ouest Lyonnais, a 70 km/h tramway running west from Lyon-Jean-Macé to Alaï and Tassin and including a 3 to 4 km tunnel with two underground stops. The line is intended to be as fast a metro but with lower costs. Opening is envisaged in 2031.
Tendering has begun for the 7∙5 km third phase of the Santos tram network, which will run west from Barreiros to Samaritá including a 650 m bridge over Pequeno sea. Work is expected to start next year. The Brazilian city’s tram network is currently 11 km long, and a further 8 km is under construction.
Work has begun on a $50m project to increase capacity, accessibility and safety at Winchester Center station on the Lowell commuter line into Boston. The station was temporarily closed in January 2021 because it needed repair and did not meet current accessibility standards. Reopening is planned for spring 2024.
The city of Rio de Janeiro is to develop plans to convert the Transcarioca and Transoeste bus rapid transit corridors to light rail, and to build a line between Botafogo and Gávea metro stations
The TramVen consortium of Ingérop, EGIS and LA/BA Architectes has been awarded a project management contract for the 7·6 km Nice tram line T5. This will branch from T1 at Pont Michel and run to La Trinité and Drap with 16 stops. The opening of the first section is planned for the end of 2025, and the entire line in 2028.
Vodafone and Virgin Media O2 mobile phone customers will be able to use the neutral host mobile network which BAI Communications is rolling out on the London Underground under a 20-year concession awarded by Transport for London, joining Three and EE which had already signed up.
Christine Beckwith has been appointed as Project Director for the Minneapolis Metro Blue Line extension. She began her career at the Minnesota Department of Transportation, before becoming Project Controls Manager and them Project Director on the Green Line. She later served as a Deputy Programme Director for the Green Line Extension and Blue Line Extension, and for the past four years has been Project Director of the Gold Line.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Transport & Logistics Lam Sai-hung has joined the MTR Corp board ex officio as a non-executive director from July 1. He sits on the nominations and remuneration committees. The Permanent Secretary for Transport & Logistics (currently Mable Chan) and the Deputy Secretary & Transport and Logistics (Sharon Yip Lee Hang-yee and Amy Wong Pui-man), have been appointed as alternate directors to the office of STL. The Secretary for Transport & Housing has ceased to be a non-executive director.