Bochum, Gelsenkirchen and Herne transport operator Bogestra took delivery in late December of the last of 95 metre-gauge Stadler Variobahn trams ordered in three batches: 30 were supplied in 2008-11, 15 in 2013-15 and 50 in 2016-22.
Automated metro project promoter Société du Grand Paris has awarded Lorrainfer a contract to supply 38 maintenance wagons from 2024.
Astra was the only bidder for a framework contract to supply between two and 25 trams to Arad. The company has previously supplied 14 Civitas trams to its home city. The planned 200m lei order is to be funded through Romania’s National Recovery & Resilience Plan.
The Chicago Transit Authority has received a $118·5m Federal Transit Administration’s All Stations Accessibility grant for a $148m programme to equip Irving Park, Belmont and Pulaski Blue Line stations with lifts and clearly defined accessible pathways to and from the platforms, bus stops and other major modal transfer points.
Phoenix’s Valley Metro has awarded Scheidt & Bachmann a $41m 11-year contract to provide a comprehensive farebox maintenance programme, building on a $14m contract awarded in March 2022 covering the supply of 900 fareboxes designed to improve fare collection systems while ensuring transport access for the unbanked.
On January 9 Bochum tram Route 302 was extended by 600 m from Laer Mitte to O-Werk. The extension took 15 months to build.
A total of 30 Siemens Mobility S700 light rail vehicles ordered by Portland’s TriMet are being equipped with Wi-Tronix’s Violet IoT technology to support condition-based and predictive maintenance using Siemens’ Railigent platform. ‘We are able to get real-time access to data on the vehicles that was previously difficult or not attainable’, said AJ O’Connor, TriMet’s Director of Intelligent Transportation Systems. ‘The tools are now there, and the data is now there, and we’re entering a paradigm shift now that’s going to get us there.’
VR FleetCare has won a tendered contract for the distance-based refurbishment of the bogies of 81 Stadler Flirt EMUs belonging to local authority owned rolling stock company Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto which are used on Helsinki commuter services. The work is to be undertaken in 2024-30, with an option for a further four years. ‘The contract is strategically important to us, as we seek growth in the future, especially in our component services’, said VR FleetCare Vice-President, Commercial, Peter Guldbrand.
Transmashholding has delivered four 11-car Ivolga 3.0 EMUs and five 11-car EP2D EMUs for the future Moskva Central Diameter lines MCD-3 and MCD-4.
On December 21 a low-speed test run was conducted on the 9 km Suoi Tien Bus Station to Binh Thai elevated section of Ho Chi Minh City’s first metro line, with more than 100 people onboard including representatives of the municipality, contractor and rolling stock supplier Hitachi Rail as well as local residents.
Hyundai Rotem has obtained Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology green technology certification for regenerative braking which is able to bring a train to a complete stop, avoiding the dust generated by the use of fraction materials. It is used on trains delivered for Seoul Metro Line 2 and Istanbul Line M7, and will be used on Seoul GTX-A trains.
The Andalusia region is to call tenders for the construction of a 2·7 km southern extension of Granada’s light rail line from Armilla to La Gloria in Churriana de la Vega at an estimated cost of €36·3m.