On January 28 MTR Corp began passenger operation of 13 eight-car trains supplied by CRRC Qingdao Sifang to replace the existing first-generation trains on Hong Kong’s Island Line. They have more spacious interiors, additional grab poles and straphangers, ergonomic seats and backrests, dynamic route maps and LED lighting. Similar trains were deployed on the Kwun Tong Line in November 2022, and the trains on the Tsuen Wan and Tseung Kwan O lines will be replaced in the future.
All Chennai Metro station ticket offices now sell tickets by WhatsApp. Passengers enter their mobile phone number using a keypad at the counter — to ensure privacy numbers are not stored — and then receive a QR code containing the ticket details in the WhatsApp chat from a CMRL official number. Other third-party platforms in use include Paytm and PhonePe.
Construction of a 21 km nine-station extension of Beijing metro Line 1 into the southwest suburbs began on January 18.
Delhi Metro Rail Corp has changed the name of the future Silver Line to the Golden Line. The operator said ‘the golden colour can be displayed more prominently and clearly on the trains than the silver, which tends to get mixed with the overall silvery texture of the stainless steel body’.
A 1·8 km extension of the Daugavpils tram network from Butlerova Iela to Stropi Ezers opened on January 25, creating a loop served clockwise by a new Route 5 and anti-clockwise by the extended Route 3. Mayor Andrejs Elksniņš said the project was first planned in the 1980s, and the opening marked ’a new page in the history of the development of our city’. EU sources covered 85% of the €11m cost.
Arab Bank announced on January 17 that it would provide Orascom Construction with a E£4·2bn credit facility to support the construction of Cairo metro Line 4. ‘The fourth phase of the Greater Cairo Metro project constitutes one of the most important sustainable green mass transit projects that will have a positive impact by preserving the environment and reducing pollution, in addition to achieving a qualitative shift in the public transport system‘, said Amr Azab, Country Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking.
Lyon transport authority Sytral Mobilités is to replace magnetic tickets with contactless cards in a deployment running from February 15 to March 15.
Hungary‘s existing vármegyebérlet county passes, which cost HF9 450 for an adult, will be valid on all local, regional and long-distance transport services within a county from March 1, while országbérlet nationwide passes costing HF18 900 are to be accepted on all local, regional and long-distance services nationally.
One of Prasa’s Alstom X’Trapolis electric multiple-units was used to operate a revenue service on the Durban – Umlazi suburban line for the first time on January 22.
Transport for Edinburgh CEO and former Chair of industry body UKTram George Lowder has been appointed Chair of the UK’s Light Rail Safety & Standards Board. He succeeds Interim Chair Colin Kerr, who will continue to work for LRSSB on a part-time basis.
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd has awarded MEMCO Associates a Rs212m contract to provide rolling stock maintenance, progress planning & investigation, and site control & stores services at its Koyambedu depot.