All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 852
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NewsEdinburgh votes to save tram project
UK: By a single vote, City of Edinburgh Council resolved to go ahead with completion of a truncated initial phase of the tram project on June 30. The 13·4 km of Line 1 from the airport to St Andrew Square will be completed, however the eastern section to Leith ...
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NewsOlsztyn tramway construction contract
POLAND: Olsztyn city council has awarded Spanish construction company FCC a €62·5m contract to build an 11·5 km tram line with 19 stops in the city. The route comprises a central 7·3 km double-track section running from the main PKP station in the northeast to Osiedle Jaroty in the south, ...
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NewsMilano metro Line 4 turnkey contract awarded
ITALY: A consortium of Impregilo, Astaldi, Ansaldo STS, AnsaldoBreda, Sirti and ATM has been selected for a turnkey contract to build and operate Milano metro Line 4. Line 4 will be 15·2 km long with 21 stations, connecting Linate airport to San Cristoforo with interchanges to Line ...
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NewsLithium-ion wayside energy storage trials at SEPTA
USA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is working with Viridity Energy, Saft and Envitech Energy Inc to test an energy storage system at Letterly substation on the Market-Frankford metro line in Philadelphia. Viridity Energy has selected Saft's Intensium Max20 lithium-ion storage batteries to capture and store excess power produced by Septa ...
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NewsSantiago metro expansion next year
CHILE: Following an announcement by President Sebastián Piñera that construction of Santiago metro lines 3 and 6 would start in 2012, Metro Santiago issued a tender for project management and technical assistance on June 13. Submissions are due by July 28. Line 3 would be 21·2 km long with 18 ...
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NewsSystra restructuring underway
FRANCE: The first stage of a restructuring of the Systra group was completed on June 30 with the incorporation of holding company Financière Systra into Systra SA, and the transfer of control of consultancy businesses Xelis and Inexia from RATP and SNCF respectively. Supervisory and executive boards were also established. ...
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NewsBombardier to shed 1400 jobs at Derby
UK: Bombardier Transportation announced on July 5 that it was initiating a 90-day statutory consultation process with a view to downsizing capacity at its train manufacturing plant in Derby. Citing declining workloads, the company is expecting to release 446 permanent and 983 temporary staff over the next few months. At ...
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NewsFirst Waratah EMU enters service at last
AUSTRALIA: The first Waratah double-deck EMU being supplied for Sydney’s CityRail suburban network by Reliance Rail finally entered revenue service on July 1, around 18 months behind schedule. The inaugural unit was dispatched from Redfern by the Chief Executive of RailCorp Rob Mason, who said he was 'very excited' to ...
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NewsKaunisvaara iron ore logistics joint venture announced
EUROPE: Northland Resources has announced an agreement to form a 50:50 joint venture with civil engineering firm Peab to manage the transportation of iron from the magnetite mine which Northland is developing at Kaunisvaara, 100 km north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. Production is expected to be underway ...
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NewsBaas R&D bought by Voestalpine
NETHERLANDS: Voestalpine announced its acquisition of the Baas R&D research department of Baas BV on June 27. Based at Waddinxveen, Baas R&D specialises in development and production of wheel diagnostic and axle recognition systems based on optic fibre technology, which Voestalpine believes is a field 'with long-term growth prospects' ...
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NewsPresident launches construction of Astana light rail line
KAZAKHSTAN: President Nursultan Nazarbayev laid a foundation stone at Nazarbayev University to launch construction of Astana's planned 41·8 km light rail network on July 4. Scheduled to open from 2014, the line will run from the international airport to the Abu Dhabi Plaza development, where it will split into ...
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NewsBART awards Warm Springs Extension contract
USA: The Warm Springs Constructors joint venture was awarded a $299m contract to design and build the 8·6 km Warm Springs Extension of San Francisco's BART network on June 24. This is the second of two major contracts for the $890m project, which is currently running $123m under budget as ...
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Dr Uwe Kruegerhas
Dr Uwe Kruegerhas been appointed CEO of Atkins with effect from August 1. He succeeds Keith Clarke who will stay on in the role of Sustainability Director.
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NewsNîmes – Montpellier bypass moves closer
FRANCE: Réseau Ferré de France announced on July 4 that it had launched final negotiations with the three shortlisted bidders for the PPP concession to build the Contournement Nîmes – Montpellier, which it describes as the country’s first ‘mixed traffic high speed line’. RFF expects to receive Best & Final ...
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PM takes over Ministry
India: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (left) has temporarily taken over as Minister of Railways, following Mamata Banerjee’s resignation on May 19 to become West Bengal Chief Minister. Singh’s office now handles all rail projects worth more than Rs1bn and has taken responsibility for higher administrative grade appointments. Minister ...
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Restructuring at Alstom
FRANCE: From July 4 Alstom will implement a major reorganisation recommended by Chairman & CEO Patrick Kron, including the creation of the new position of Deputy CEO, which has been filled by Philippe Joubert. Alstom’s operational activities will be split into four sectors: Thermal Power, Renewable Power, Grid, ...
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Thomas Umberghas
Thomas Umberghas been elected to succeed Curt Pringle as Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Tom Richards and Lynn Schenk were selected as Vice-Chairmen, in Schenk’s case for a second term. CEO Roelof van Ark has also announced the appointments of Christopher Ryan as Chief of Staff and ...
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Matthias Kurth
Matthias Kurth, President of Germany’s Bundesnetz-agentur, was elected as the first Chairman of the IRG-Rail group of independent railway regulators at its inaugural Plenary Assembly in Den Haag on June 9. ORR Chair Anna Walker from the UK has been elected as Vice-Chair.
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Philippe Citroën
Philippe Citroën,CEO of Systra, has been appointed Director General of Unife from July 1, succeeding Michael Clausecker.