Railway Gazette International articles from April 2009

Railway Gazette International archives from April 2009

Planning for growth must not stop.(COMMENT)
April 1, 2009... Despite concerns about the state of the global economy, confidence was running high at the 'Growth & the Capacity Challenge' conference in London on March 10. Organised by Railway Gazette International and Rail Business Intelligence, in...

100 velaros to work Beijing--Shanghai line.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... CHINA: On March 16 the Ministry of Railways signed a contract with China CNR Corp for the supply of 100 CRH trainsets to operate the 1318 km high speed line between Beijing and Shanghai at a maximum speed of 350 km/h. Total value of the deal is...

Tehran--Mashhad electrification contract awarded.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... IRAN: A [euro]792m contract to electrify the Tehran--Mashhad route and supply 70 electric locomotives has been awarded to a consortium led by engineering firm Hirbodan and including electrical specialist Barsan, TAM Irankhodro and rolling stock...

KTZ gets 3000th Evolution Series.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... KAZAKHSTAN: On March 18 GE Transportation announced that it had officially handed over its 3000th Evolution Series diesel locomotive to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. Assembled at Erie, Pennsylvania, the 4 400 hp loco is one of 310 ordered by KTZ...

Corridor X in 35 h.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... EUROPE: Headed by two gleaming black locomotives, the Bosphorus Europe Express pulled into Halkali station in Istanbul's western suburbs in the evening of March 17, just 35 h after setting out from Ljubljana. The record-breaking container...

Express Rail Link accord.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... CHINA: Vice-Minister of Railways Lu Dongfu signed a memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong's Secretary for Housing & Transport Eva Cheng on February 24, confirming the technical specifications for the Express Rail Link between Guangzhou,...

High speed launch.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... TURKEY: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially inaugurated Turkey's first section of 250 km/h railway on March 13. Accompanied by TCDD President Suleyman Karaman, he rode a CAF-built tilting trainset between Ankara and Eskisehir in 90...

Patriot Corridor goes ahead.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... USA: On March 10 the Surface Transportation Board formally approved the Patriot Corridor joint venture between Norfolk Southern and Pan Am Railways. Effective from April 9, this paves the way for a new joint venture company, Pan Am Southern...

Infrastructure spending continues.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... RUSSIA: RZD confirmed last month that it planned to continue its upgrading programme for the Moscow--Nizhni Novgorod main line for higher speeds, with more than 1.75bn roubles to be spent during 2009. RZD President Vladimir Yakunin told...

Laos link inaugurated.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... LAOS: Princess Maha Chakri Sir-indhorn of Thailand presided over the inaugural cross-border rail journey into Laos on March 5. Following a ceremony at Nong Khai, the princess travelled across the Mekong River to Tha Na Laeng, where she began a...

ETCS for Barcelona suburban.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... SPAIN: The government has approved a [euro]4bn investment package to increase capacity on RENFE'S Barcelona suburban routes, including 25 km of new track, the doubling of all remaining single-track sections (80 km) and the installation of ETCS...

High speed share grows.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... RENFE reports that its share of the Madrid - Barcelona market has grown to 48.2% following the entry into service of the last section of high speed infrastructure between the two cities on February 20 2008. This is up from 11 -8% in January...

Czech-German accords signed.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... EUROPE: Czech Transport Minister Petr Bendl and the Prime Minister of the German Land of Sachsen Stanislaw Tillich signed a memorandum on February 18 paving the way for construction of a Praha--Dresden high speed line. The governments plan to...

Signalling alliance agreements signed.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... AUSTRALIA: Australian Rail Track Corp announced on March 4 that it had signed an alliance agreement with Ansaldo STS covering signalling works to increase the capacity and efficiency of coal lines in New South Wales and Victoria. The Network...

DfT forms rolling stock company to buy DMUs.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... UK: The Department for Transport announced on March 5 that the government had set up a new company to procure 202 new DMU vehicles which are currently out to tender. Transport Minister Lord Adonis said that forming Diesel Trains Ltd was 'the...

Rolling stock spend.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... CZECH REPUBLIC: CD was due to take delivery in March of refurbished coaches from ZOS Vrutky as part of a programme to invest KC4.5bn in its rolling stock fleet during 2009. Under the KC205m deal, the six ARmpee first class/bistro coaches...

Russia and Spain co-operate.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... EUROPE: In the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a co-operation agreement between RZD, ADIF and RENFE Operadora was signed in Madrid on March 3. Infrastructure authority ADIF...

Tyva alignment confirmed.(MAIN LINE)
April 1, 2009... RUSSIA: A protocol confirming the route of a 415 km railway from Kuragino to Kyzyl, capital of the Tyva Republic, was signed by the republic's head of government Sholban Kara-ool and the CEO of Eniseiskaya Industrial Corp Dmitry Sakhno on...

Montenegro's.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... With effect from February 12 Montenegro's national railway Zeljeznica Crne Gore was split into infrastructure organisation ZCG and operator zeljeznicki Prevoz Crne Gore.

The community of European railways & infrastructure companies.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... The Community of European Railways & Infrastructure Companies has called on the European commission to produce guidelines on multi-annual funding contracts between governments and railways. CER believes longer agreements are required to provide...

Australasian railway association.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Under a project conceived more than 10 years ago, the Australasian Railway Association published its first national rulebook in March, providing common safety regulations for staff working on the track. Work is continuing on a second stage to...

Dutch.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... The Dutch provinces of Drethe and Overijssel will call tenders this year for operation of the 75 km Zwolle--Emmen line from December 2010, after NS Reizigers declined an extension of its current contract to 2013.

Myanmar.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... On March 2 China's Minister of Railways Liu zhijun signed a co-operation accord with Myanmar's Transport Minister Aung Min under which China will donate 200 wagons, 20 coaches and five diesel locos to Myanma Railways.

Saudi Arabia.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... The 6.8bn ryals contract with the Al-Rajhi Alliance for construction of saudi Arabia's Haramain Railway linking Makkah, Jeddah and Madinha (RG 3.09 p7) was officially signed by Transport Minister Jobara Al-Suraisry and Finance Minister Ibrahim...

UK.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... UK franchisee East Midlands Trains reinstated passenger trains between London and corby on February 23, following the construction of a new station by Network Rail. Services from Kettering to Corby were withdrawn in the 1960s, but an...

Keolis.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... SNCF has announced plans to increase its stake in public transport operator Keolis from 45.4% to 57%, through the transfer of its wholly-owned subsidiary Effia which operates station car parks. The deal is expected to be agreed this month.

Serbia.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Investment of [euro]5.1bn to upgrade the rail network in Serbia over the next 15 to 20 years, including [euro]2.5bn for work on TEN Corridor X, is envisaged in a General Transport Master Plan commissioned by the European Commission from a...

Traceca.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... On March 5 Polish intermodal operator Polzug began running block container trains on the Traceca corridor between Poti in Georgia and Baki in Azerbaijan. Organised by Polzug's local subsidiary Silk Road Express, the trains link the Black Sea...

Sri Lanka.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Sri Lanka's Railways Department was due to start work on March 19 to rehabilitate the country's northern main line between Vavuniya and Kamkesanthura via Jaffna, including seven stations, at an estimated cost of US$50m.

Texas.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Kansas City Southern expects to reopen shortly the 145 km line between Victoria and Rosenburg in Texas, which was formerly operated by Southern Pacific. Reconstruction of the line will bypass 250 km of trackage rights over Union Pacific, and...

Amtrak.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... On March 13 US Vice-President Jo Biden announced a list of Amtrak capital works projects totalling around $400m to be funded from the government's economic stimulus package. They include replacement of the Niantic River drawbridge in...

Telematics applications for freight.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... The International Union of Railways awarded a [euro]3.2m contract to ELOG AB of Sweden on February 27 to implement the first phase of the Telematics Applications for Freight TSI. This covers the development of common components to support...

St Petersburg.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... St Petersburg metro Line 4 was diverted to a newly-opened terminus at Spasskaya on March 7, with the Sadovaya--Komendantskiy Prospekt section of Line 4 transferred to Line 5.

Jaen.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... A consortium comprising Alstom, Gea21, Inabensa, Mipelsa and Pavimentaciones Morales has been awarded a [euro]74.8m turnkey contract to build Jaen's first light rail route (RG 3.09 p16).

Madrid.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Metro de Madrid has introduced six AnsaldoBreda Series 9000 six-car trains on Line 6, to replace the current Series 5000 vehicles. A further 30 trains will be added by 2011.

Seattle.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... The start of construction on Sound Transit's $1.9bn University Link light rail project was marked during a March 6 ceremony at the University of Washington in Seattle (RG 3.09 p20).

Murcia.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... FCC and Comsa have won a 40-year contract to build, maintain and operate Murcia tram Line 1. The 18 km line will have 28 stops linking the city centre with Nueva Condomina and Murcia University. Work is expected to start in the summer and be...

Sevilla.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Andalucia's Minister of Public Works & Transport has announced agreements for the construction of two tram lines to Dos Hermanas and Alcala de Guadaira in the suburbs of Sevilla. A [euro]4.95m tender has already been issued for an 800 m...

Barcelona.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... EIB is to lend Ifercat a further [euro]200m to finance construction of Barcelona Metro Line 9. Previous loans total [euro]1.6bn. The first section is now due to open later this year.

Madrid.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... A new 8 km suburban line with three stations will be built in Madrid, allowing an estimated 25000 passengers a day to travel between Chamartin station and Torrejon de Ardoz in just 20 min. The cost is put at [euro]480m. The route will use part...

New Jersey.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... New Jersey Transit is planning to spend $424m from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act on various projects, including the new trans-Hudson tunnel ($130m); rehabilitation of the Lower Hack Drawbridge ($30m); signalling upgrades on the...

Virginia Beach.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Virginia Beach Mayor Will sessoms announced a US$40m deal to buy a 17 km Norfolk Southern alignment for use as a possible light rail route. A consultant will be chosen to do a feasibility study.

Vancouver.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... An Evergreen Line project office has been opened in Coquitlam, Vancouver, to 'advance' the 11 km Skytrain extension from Burnaby to Coquitlam. Funded by Trans-Link and the governments of Canada and British Columbia, work is due to begin in late...

VTG.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Announcing preliminary results for 2008 on January 23, wagon leasing firm VTG said its revenue of [euro]608.7m was ahead of forecasts and up 12.4% on 2007. EBITDA was up 14.2% at [euro]156.4m.

Skoda Vagonka's.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Production and storage buildings totalling 2000 [m.sup.2] are being erected at Skoda Vagonka's Ostrava-Vitkovice factory in order to handle orders for CityElefant double-deck EMUs. Completion is expected in December 2009 at a cost of KC240m,...

Ansaldo STS.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Signalling supplier Ansaldo STS has reported a consolidated net profit of [euro]77.6m for 2008, up 33% on 2007. EBIT was up 17% to [euro]117.6m.

Nexans and Polycab.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Cable manufacturers Nexans and Polycab signed an agreement on March 3 establishing a joint venture to produce cables for the Indian rail, maritime, materials handling, high voltage and wind power markets. Nexans will hold a majority stake in...

Portec rail products.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Portec Rail Products announced unaudited net income of $7.8m for 2008, up 27% on 2007. sales remained at around $l09m. The Total Friction Management programme with Canadian Pacific helped sales growth, but the company suffered from unfavourable...

Anti-graffiti coating.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Train washer supplier H Bingham & Sons is introducing to the rail market a brush-on anti-graffiti coating for use on walls and infrastructure. Spray paint will not stick to the coating, allowing graffiti to be washed off with water and minimal...

Audio guides.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... UK train operator Northern Rail and passenger group Friends of the Settle--Carlisle Line have produced MP3 audio guides to one of Britain's most scenic rail journeys. In total 4 h of recordings are available as free downloads from...

Lifting aid.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Harmill Systems has built a lifting aid which allows a single member of staff to remove 60 kg ATO control boxes from the restricted spaces in train cabs during maintenance without any heavy lifting. Following successful deployment on London...

Thermal identification printing system.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Clear differentiation between residual and redundant assets was needed during the conversion of London Underground's East London Line for use by London Overground services. Engineering firm Mouchel selected Hellermann-Tyton's Thermal...

Fire service college.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Based on a former airfield, the UK's Fire Service College at Morton-in-Marsh has a wide range of emergency response and incident control training facilities, including replica buildings, redundant aircraft and a short purpose-built railway with...

Epping--Chatswood opens.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... AUSTRALIA: The Epping to Chatswood rail link in the northern suburbs of Sydney opened on February 23, with New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees joining state Transport Minister David Campbell to ride the first train. The link is currently...

Dallas commuter line grant.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... USA: Construction could get underway in April on the Denton County Transportation Authority's A-Train commuter rail project now that a $250m grant has been received from the Texas Department of Transportation. The 33.8 km, five-station...

CAF trams on test in Antalya.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... TURKEY: Test running has started with 14 CAF light rail vehicles for the 11 km Antalya tramway being built by Alarko, which is due for completion on June 14. The line will have 16 stops, including two cut-and-cover stations, and a depot at...

Circular Line launch.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... TAIWAN: Taipei's Department of Rapid Transit Systems has awarded an integrated turnkey contract worth [euro]334m for the first phase of the Circular Line automated metro. Services on the 15.5 km route, which will have 13 elevated stations, one...

Budget slashed.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... ARGENTINA: Jorge Irigoin, President of Buenos Aires metro construction authority SBASE, has resigned two weeks after the city's Minister of Urban Development Daniel Chain announced a 75% reduction in the budget for metro development. The...

Boon Lay extension open.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... SINGAPORE: The S$436m extension of the East-West Line by 3.8 km from Boon Lay to Pioneer and Joo Koon opened on February 28. A date has now been set for the inauguration of the Circle Line. Phase 1 will commence operations on May 30, when...

Line 2 bids under review.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... POLAND: Five offers have been submitted by international consortia competing to build the 6 km central section of Warszawa Metro Line 2. The committee evaluating the tenders is expected to make a decision by the end of March. This must then be...

Grant concluded.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... USA: A US$900m full funding grant agreement for Washington's Dulles Metrorail extension was signed by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on March 9, clearing the way for work to start. The FFGA covers Phase 1 of the $5.2bn, 37 km...

Metro ring completed.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... BELGIUM: The Brussels metro Line 2 extension from Delacroix to Gare de l'Ouest is due to be opened on April 2 by King Albert II. At the same time the metro network will be restructured into four lines: * Line 1: Stockel--Centrale--Gare...

Kolkata projects launched.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... INDIA: The Kolkata Mass Rapid Transit SPV, a consortium of Srei Infrastructure, West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corp and Czech-based Amex International, was launched by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on...

Canarsie CBTC goes live.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... USA: New York City Transit reached a milestone in its 20-year programme to introduce automatic train operation on February 24, when it activated the final stage of communications-based train control on the L-Canarsie subway line. This...

Light rail expansion.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... USA: Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority board of directors voted unanimously on March 4 to award a $1.46bn design, build, operate and maintain contract covering the construction of four more light rail lines to the HRT joint venture...

Antonov arrival.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... INDIA: The first of 424 Bombardier metro cars for Delhi was loaded onto an Antonov AN-124-100M-150 aircraft in Germany on February 25 for delivery to India the following day, 18 months after the order was placed. The 45 tonne, 22.5 m long...

Crossrail Programme Partner selected.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... UK: Crossrail Ltd is expected to sign shortly a contract worth [pounds sterling]100m appointing the Transcend joint venture to the critical role of Programme Partner. The members of Transcend are AECOM, CH2M Hill and Nichols Group. The...

Four bids in Dublin.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... IRELAND: The Railway Procurement Agency received four tenders on February 27 for the PPP contract to design, build, finance and maintain the 18 km Metro North light rail line from St Stephen's Green in central Dublin to the airport, Swords and...

Two-horse race nears conclusion.(URBAN RAIL)
April 1, 2009... CANADA: The deadline for submitting bids for a fleet of 204 new low-floor trams passed on February 27 as scheduled with only two manufacturers still in the running. Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens were invited by Toronto Transit Commission...

Australia.(CONTRACTS)
April 1, 2009... AUSTRALIA: The government has appointed engineering consultancy GHD Pty Ltd to undertake an A$3m study of rail freight movements in and around Adelaide, looking at noise capacity and safety issues.

UK.(CONTRACTS)
April 1, 2009... UK: ATOC has selected Delta-Rail and Steer Davies Gleave to develop and operate a new economic forecasting model to facilitiate franchise specifications and the impact of operational strategies on passenger demand and revenue.

Angola.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... ANGOLA: Chinese firms reconstructing the 903 km CFN line between Mocamedes and Menongue as part of the government's National Reconstruction Programme have handed back the 89 km section between Matala and Dongo. A further 505 km is to be...

Argentina.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... ARGENTINA: On March 3 the federal government agreed to provide 220m pesos for a seven-month programme to refurbish 207 stations on the Buenos Aires suburban network.

Chile.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... CHILE: Cruz y Davila has won a contract to provide project management services for the re-opening of the Arica--La Paz Railway (RG 1.09 p7). A total of 12 bids had been received for the works inspection contract.

China.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... CHINA: Construction of the 731 km Chengdu--Lanzhou line through Sichuan and Gansu provinces was launched on February 21; the line is expected to be completed by 2014 at a cost of 62bn yuan.

Finland.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... FINLAND: Lansimetro Oy has awarded Poyry, Sito and Fundatec contracts for rock and tunnel engineering on the 14 km western extension of the Helsinki metro. Poyry's share is valued at [euro]1.3m.

Hungary.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... HUNGARY: A consortium led by Strabag of Austria has won a [euro]183m contract to upgrade track, electrification and signalling on the Tarnok--Szekesferhervar line; work is to be completed by December 2012.

Israel.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... ISRAEL: ISR called tenders on March 9 for tunnelling works on Section D of the direct rail link to Jerusalem, including a 2.9 km tunnel leading to the planned terminus at Binyanei-Hauma, which will be 80 m below street level. Bids are due by...

Ireland.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... IRELAND: IE has applied for planning approval for a [euro]100m reconstruction of Tara Street station in Dublin by 2012. Work is expected to get underway within 12 months.

Spain.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... SPAIN: ADIF has awarded FCC and Sando a [euro]251.3m contract for civil works on the 7.6 km Sorbas--Barranco de los Gafarillos section of the high speed line between Murcia and Almeria.

Turkey.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... TURKEY: AZD Praha has signed a KC100m deal to supply Celikler Yatirim Holding with telecoms and interlocking equipment for a 35 km line being built between Muratli and the Marmara Sea port of Tekirdag. TCDD has awarded a [euro]13m contract...

UK.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... UK: Network Rail has selected Atkins as principal contractor for the Newport Area resignalling due to be completed in 2011. Atkins is also providing communications for the Thameslink Programme; the two contracts are valued at over [pounds...

USA.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... USA: A $163.3m design and build contract for the 50 km first phase of the $357m SunRail commuter rail project in central Florida has been awarded to Archer Western Contractors and Railworks Track Systems. California High Speed Rail Corp has...

Vietnam.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
April 1, 2009... VIETNAM: The government has authorised a 30bn dong upgrading of track and tunnels on DSVN's main line through the Hai Van Pass north of Danang.