Railway Gazette International articles from March 2009

Railway Gazette International archives from March 2009

The rising spectre of protectionism.(COMMENT)
March 1, 2009... An inevitable consequence of the economic downturn has been a demand for trade barriers and the protection of home markets. Politicians spending taxpayers' money to stimulate the local economy and create or protect jobs want to see the benefits...

Makkah contract awarded.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... SAUDI ARABIA: The AI Rajhi Alliance has won the 6.79bn riyal design and build contract for Phase 1 of the Haramain High Speed Rail project. Work is scheduled to begin this month on the 444 km line linking Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and King...

DFC construction launched.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... INDIA: Chairman of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition Sonia Gandhi formally launched the construction of the eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor in a ceremony at Rohtas in Bihar on February 10. The eastern DFC will run for 1...

Committee to explore competition.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... FINLAND: Minister of Transport Ami Vehvilainen has established a working group to study opportunities for introducing competition to the passenger rail market. The group chaired by International Affairs advisor Minna Kivimaki will report by the...

Wires going up.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... IRAN: Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin attended a ceremony on February 9 marking the formal start of work to electrify the line from Tabriz to Azarshahr. The 46 km line linking central Tabriz to the university town of Azarshahr...

Split takes effect.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... ESTONIA: AS Eesti Raudtee was restructured into a small holding company with two subsidiaries with effect from January 14, bringing Estonia into line with EU policy mandating managerial and financial separation between infrastructure and...

Advisors sought for national rail plan.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... JORDAN: The government will shortly appoint financial, legal and technical advisers to assist with the development of a national rail network. On January 26 Transport Minister Alaa Batayneh told the Petra news agency that he expected to see...

DB buys Polish freight firm.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... POLAND: Deutsche Bahn announced on January 30 that it is to purchase PCC Logistics, the largest private rail freight operator in Poland. The deal was signed by DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, Board Member, Logistics, Norbert Bensel and the founder...

Tunnel replacement study.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... SWITZERLAND: Rhatische Bahn is developing proposals for the comprehensive renewal or replacement of the Albula tunnel on the Chur--St Moritz main line. Opened in 1903, the 5 865 m tunnel is the highest transalpine bore at 1 800 m above sea...

Girona to go dual gauge.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... SPAIN: ADIF has awarded a joint venture of Alstom, Acciona and Comsa a [euro]93.8m contract to upgrade the 41 km Girona--Figueres route and convert one line to dual gauge by mid-2010. Alstom's [euro]40.4m share of the 16-month contract includes...

RFF investment accelerated.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... FRANCE: Announcing further measures to relaunch the economy on February 2, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said an additional [euro]300m is to be invested in the rail network. Addressing the inter-ministerial committee charged by President...

EuskoTren to the airport.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... SPAIN: Tendering will begin shortly for the first phase of a [euro]36.9m extension of the EuskoTren network to Bilbao Airport, comprising a 3.1 km double-track alignment from Matiko to La Ola with 1.9 km in tunnel. Matiko station would be...

Agility Trains to supply Super Express.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... UK: The Agility Trains consortium of Hitachi, John Laing and Barclays has been named as preferred bidder to supply 'up to 1400' vehicles in a [pounds sterling]7.5bn train service provision contract under the government-led Intercity Express...

Faster through MidAmerica.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... USA: Last month Canadian National and Norfolk Southern announced an initiative to share tracks to create a MidAmerica Corridor to shorten routes for traffic between Chicago, St Louis, Kentucky and Mississippi. The plan comprises three...

Mongolia coal line.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... CHINA: The construction of a 350 km railway from Baotau in Inner Mongolia to Ganqimaodu on the Mongolian border has been launched by Shenhua Group Corp. The 4.7bn yuan line is expected open in 2011, and will have the capacity to carry 60...

Green and black money.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... DENMARK: Parliament agreed a DKr94bn transport infrastructure plan running to 2020 on January 29. This brings forward infrastructure projects which had been planned for 2010 onwards, and was described by Transport Minister Lars Barfoed as...

Contract signed.(MAIN LINE)
March 1, 2009... LIBYA: China Railway Construction Corp has signed a US$805m contract to build a further 172 km of the planned Libyan rail network. Work on the section from Tripoli to Ras Ejder on the Tunisian border is scheduled to take 54 months. In 2008...

Moscow Kurskaya station.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Following the completion of a major modernisation programme, last month Russian Railways transferred Moscow Kurskaya station to the BFM-Kursky subsidiary of Mirax Group under a five-year management concession. 'Kurskaya railway station will...

Channel Tunnel.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The Channel Tunnel was fully reopened to traffic on February 9, following repairs after the September 11 fire (RG 1.09 p22). Eurostar was due to begin running a full service on February 23.

Madrid Atocha.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The 5-3 km link between the high speed lines to Barcelona and Sevilla opened to traffic on January 10, removing the need for through services to reverse at Madrid Atocha and cutting 1 h from journey times.

Czech Railways.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... On January 18 Czech Railways launched 25 kv electric services on the 37 km Ceske Budejovice--Nove Hrady line, work undertaken by EZ Praha at a cost of KC909m included upgrading tracks, two bridges and stations and resignalling with an AZD Praha...

Israel Railways.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Following the decision to delay completion of Israel Railways' fast link to Jerusalem until 2014, US$260m which had been allocated for electrification will instead be used to speed up construction of the planned line from Ashqelon to Be'er...

Ukrainian Railways.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... As part of its response to the global economic crisis, EBRD is providing Ukrainian Railways with a US$62.5m loan to fund a wagon renewal programme which could not be financed from other sources. The French government is providing [euro]350 000...

East London Line.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Government funding for the [pounds sterling]75m second phase of the East London Line extension from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction was announced on February 12, with completion planned for 2012.

Karachi Circular Railway.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Last month a Japanese team completed a study into the feasibility of reviving suburban passenger traffic on the Karachi Circular Railway, putting the cost at US$872m to be funded through a 40-year loan from Japan.

Albanian.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The Albanian government is reported to have received no bids for a proposed concession to manage the national rail network.

Melbourne.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The 750 m Merri Creek bridge was opened on January 27, as part of the A$52m Clifton Hill Rail Project to remove bottlenecks on the suburban network in the Australian city of Melbourne.

Kashmir.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Indian Railways launched passenger services between Mazhom and Baramulla on February 16, two days after a ceremony marked the completion of another stage of the project to link Kashmir with the national rail network (RG 9.08 p707). The 18 km...

Czech republic.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Following the clarification of guidelines on state aid for European railways last year (RG 6.08 p343), the European Commission has approved a plan by the Czech Republic to fund interoperability projects over five years. 85% of the [euro]40m...

Southern Sydney Freight Line.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Construction work is underway on the A$309m Southern Sydney Freight Line, a 36 km link from Macarthur to Chullora which will provide 24 h access to Port Botany from early 2010 (RG 7.08 p438). A curfew currently excludes freight trains from...

Kei Rail.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... On March 1 Kei Rail is due to launch daily passenger services between Amabele near East London and Mthatha, exactly a year on from the introduction of a weekend service on the 282 km route in South Africa (RG 6.08 p372).

Slumping traffic.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Union Pacific, BNSF and CSX have stored approximately 107 000 wagons or 17% of their combined fleets because of slumping traffic. UP reported a 12% drop in volumes for the fourth quarter of last year and 18% during the first three weeks of...

Russian Railways.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... In an effort to reduce operating costs, Russian Railways has begun operating trains of up to 9 000 tonnes from the Kuzbass coalfields to the Baltic ports.

Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Canadian National's acquisition of Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway from a subsidiary of United States Steel was completed on January 31, although the deal still faces court challenges from communities along the EJ&E resisting higher levels of...

Santo Domingo in service.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Full public service on the first metro line in Santo Domingo began at 06.00 on January 30, the day after President Leonel Fernandez officially inaugurated the line. The opening followed a successful trial between...

DTL track contract.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... SINGAPORE: Land Transport Authority has awarded Alstom Transport a S$238.5m contract for track work on the Downtown Line. Awarded on January 30, the contract covers design, supply and installation of 70 km of track and the 750 V DC third...

Metrotranvia deal.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... ARGENTINA: On February 11, Mendoza governor Celso Alejandro signed a 62.4m pesos contract with the CEOSA-SOGESIC joint venture to build the 13 km Metrotranvia line. To be completed in 360 days, the work includes reconstruction and...

First Metropolis reaches Budapest.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... HUNGARY: Two Alstom Metropolis cars for Budapest Metro Line 2 are shown waiting to cross the Hungarian border from Slovakia. These cars form part of the first five-car train which was delivered to operator BKV on February 9. Alstom is supplying...

Catenary-free trams.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... GERMANY: Bombardier Transportation formally launched its Primove contact-free inductive power supply technology on January 22, on a section of the test track at its Bautzen plant. The technology could be commercially available by 2010 (MR 12.08...

Istanbul extends.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... TURKEY: Four more stations were opened in Istanbul on January 30, when heavy metro Line M2 was extended to 15 km. Sishane lies to the south of Taksim, and Sanayi Mahallesi, ITU Ayazaga and Ataturk Oto Sanayi are north of 4 Levent. End-to-end...

Airport extension contract.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... USA: The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners has approved a $360m contract for construction of the 3.9 km Airport Connection Metrorail extension. This will run from the existing station at Earlington Heights to an intermodal centre...

Andalucian tram projects.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... SPAIN: Plans to build three new tram systems in Andalucia are projects gressing. Following signature of an agreement between the mayor of Chiclana and the Andalucian Minister of Transport on February 2, a [euro]51.4m tender will shortly be...

Modern vehicles sought.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... POLAND: City transport operator MPK Wroclaw has selected Skoda Transportation to supply 28 trams. The 268m zloty contract is expected to be signed in March, with the trams entering service between November 2010 and October 2011. They will...

LA light rail advances.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... USA: A light rail vehicle was towed along the 9.7 km Gold Line Eastside Extension from Los Angeles Union Station to Atlantic Boulevard and Pomona Street on January 27 to check clearances. The $898m extension is on course to open this summer,...

Dubai strengthens safety regulation.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... UAE: The Dubai Roads & Transport Authority signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Office of Rail Regulation on February 9. The agreement followed RTA's successful co-operation with ORR to assess and certify safety on Nakheel's Palm...

Bielefeld chooses HeiterBlick.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... GERMANY: Bielefeld city transport operator MoBiel announced a [euro]47m order for 16 high-floor light rail vehicles with options for a further 25 on January 26. Consortium leader Vossloh Kiepe will supply the electrical equipment for the cars,...

Indian approvals.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... INDIA: On January 29 the government announced cabinet approval for the 45 km first phase of the Chennai metro, which includes two lines. One will run from Washermanpet to Saidapet and Chennai Airport, with 14.3 km of the 23.1 km underground....

University link funded.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... USA: A full-funding grant agreement for the 5.1 km University Link light rail extension was signed by Sound Transit and the Federal Transit Administration on January 15. This provides federal funding to cover 40% of the $1.9bn cost, conditional...

Caracas renovation.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... VENEZUELA: Metro de Caracas is investing BsF4bn to refurbish Line 1 between Propatria and Palo Verde. The route now carries more than 1.5 million passengers on a working day, and the metro must meet an anticipated demand of 3 million passengers...

Bilbao line 3 launched.(URBAN RAIL)
March 1, 2009... SPAIN: Basque infrastructure authority Euskal Trenbide Sarea has launched a tender to construct the first phase of Bilbao metro Line 3 between Etxebarri and Txurdinaga, which includes 2.1 km of tunnel and two new stations, with a budget of...

Delhi.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Delhi Metro opened the 6.4 km Vishwavidyalaya-Jahangirpuri extension of Line 2 for passenger service on February 4, adding five stations to the network. The ITD CEM joint venture working on the future Central Secretariat-Badarpur line...

Mumbai.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The foundation stone for the Mumbai monorail was finally laid by Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan on February 9 (RG 1.09 p15). The ceremony was delayed due to the terrorist attacks on November 26. Nevertheless, contractors Scomi and...

Tyne & Wear.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Four bidders shortlisted for the concession to operate the Tyne & Wear Metro from April 2010 (RG 1.09 p32) were announced on January 30, following receipt of nine expressions of interest. Invitations to negotiate will be sent to DB Regio Tyne &...

Curitiba.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Curitiba, the state capital of Parana, is planning to build a 22 km metro line, crossing the city from south to north, at a cost of around US$1bn. The project would form part of preparations for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

Tenerife.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The first of six additional Citadis trams ordered by Metropolitano de Tenerife left Alstom's factory in Barcelona on February 6. The trams will be used to operate Line 2, which is due to open in June (MR 3.09 p 40).

Athens.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Metro Line 3 services to Athens International Airport were suspended on February 14 for six months whilst the construction of three intermediate stations at Holargos, Nomismatokopio and Aghia Paraskevi is completed. In the Interim, a bus...

Cincinnati.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Four firms have responded to a Request for Qualifications for a $128m design-build-operate-maintain contract for a tram line to link central Cincinnati with the uptown area. The companies include a consortium called Cincinnati Streetcar...

Honolulu.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... A Request for Proposals has been issued inviting contractors to build the first 10.5 km section of the Honolulu Rapid Transit line between West Oahu and Farrington Highway. Future contracts will be awarded for seven stations, track, vehicles,...

Hong Kong.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The first of 22 additional LRVs ordered for the Tuen Mun light rail network in Hong Kong's Northwest New Territories is expected to enter service this year, with the remainder to follow by 2010. Being built by CSR in Nanjing under subcontract...

Nice.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... The city of Nice has allocated [euro]30m for transport projects in its 2009 budget. This includes preliminary work on a second tram line linking the city centre to the airport. Work should start in 2010 and last two-and-a-half years.

Zwolle-Kampen.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... On January 28 Dutch infrastructure manager proRail, the province of overijssel and the towns of Zwolle and Kampen announced a joint project to convert the existing 13 km Zwolle-kampen line to tram-train operation by 2012. The single-track line...

Beijing municipal government.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... Beijing municipal government has approved the construction of metro Line 15. The 45.7 km route from Xiyuan to Shunyi, with 21 stations, will be built in two phases and completed in 2015. Phase 1 between Wangjing West and Hedong in Shunyi will...

Portland.(NEWS IN BRIEF)
March 1, 2009... More than 600 passengers rode Westside Express Service trains during opening day on February 2. The 23.7 km line uses Portland & Western Railroad tracks and connects Wilsonville, Tualatin and Tigard with the Beaverton Transit. The service is...

Belgium.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... BELGIUM: A 1.6 tonne capacity Europont overhead crane with a Verlinde Eurobloc hoist has been installed at STIB's Woluwe tram depot in Bussels.

Netherlands.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... NETHERLANDS: INIT has a contract to provide COPILOTPC onboard equipment and GPRS communications for 129 trams, 226 buses and 41 other vehicles operated by Rotterdam transport company RET.

Norway.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... NORWAY: Railcare Group of Sweden has acquired a 33% stake in Grenland Rail from Miljo og Veiservice for SKrlm.

Russia.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... RUSSIA: Transmash Holding has acquired 50.5% stake in the VELNII electric traction research and design institute in Novocherkassk.

Saudi Arabia.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... SAUDI ARABIA: During a visit by President Hu Jintao last month, a 6.7bn rival agreement was reached for China Railway Construction to build a 18 km rail line linking pilgrimage sites around Makkah.

South Africa.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... SOUTH AFRICA: KPMG has been advising Transnet on the allocation of capacity to manganese traffic from Hotazel to Port Elizabeth. Transnet caps annual capacity at 4.4 million tonnes until 2013, but recognises this may not meet demand.

UK.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... UK: Telent has begun the roll-out of infrastructure to support an IP-based public address system from Application Solutions on the Docklands Light Railway.

Network Rail.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... Network Rail has awarded Siemens a [pounds sterling]24m contract to supply and install GSM-R radios for the majority of train cabs. The system will be working in London, the southeast and southwest by 2012, and nationally by 2013.

USA.(CONTRACTS)
March 1, 2009... USA: WiFi Rail Inc has signed a 20-year revenue-sharing agreement under which it will fund and operate wi-fi on the BART metro in San Francisco. Passengers will be able to subscribe, or receive 3 1/2 min of free access for every 30 sec they...

EuskoKargo electro-diesels.(MARKET)
March 1, 2009... SPAIN: Last month EuskoTren received the first of 12 TD2000 electro-diesel locomotives ordered from local manufacturer Ingeteam at a cost of [euro]37.5m. The 62 tonne 80 km/h metre-gauge freight locos can be powered from the 1.5 MW diesel...

Australia.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... AUSTRALIA: QR has won a A$100m eight-year contract for rail grinding on ARTC's interstate network.

Chile.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... CHILE: Metro de Santiago has awarded Alstom a [euro]5.3m contract to supply SACEM ATC on the 3.8 km Los Do-minicos extension of Line 1.

China.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... CHINA: Siemens and Beijing Huatie ITDC have won a [euro]32m contract to supply Trainguard MT CBTC, Vicos controls and SICAS interlockings for the 32 km Guangzhou--Foshan inter-urban line. The first phase is due to open in October 2010.

Hangzhou Metro.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... Hangzhou Metro has awarded GE Transportation, Ztinstall and Supcon a contract to supply RailEdge integrated supervision and control systems for the 54 km Line 1 scheduled to open at the end of 2011.

France.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... FRANCE: RFF has named a consortium led by TDF as preferred bidder for the 15-year PPP for network-wide GSM-R (RG 1.09 p9). The consortium includes Vinci Energie, Vinci Concessions, telecoms group SFR and AXA Investment Managers Paris.

Sytral.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... Sytral has awarded a consortium of Areva and ACC-IM a [euro]58m contract to replace signalling on Lyon metro lines A and B with CBTC based on Areva's Pegasus system. Driverless operation is planned in the longer term.

India.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... INDIA: Indra has won a [euro]4.2m contract to supply and maintain contact-less ticketing and access management equipment for the 12 stations on Mumbai Metro Line 1.

Lithuania.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... LITHUANIA: LG has awarded UAB Fima a [euro]46m contract for signalling on 100 route-km, including the line between Kaunas and Kaliningrad, and a line bypassing Kaunas where the power supply will be modernised. Work will be undertaken in...

Morocco.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... MOROCCO: ONCFM has awarded Indra and Spanish infrastruture authority ADIF a [euro]3.2m contract to install a Da Vinci operations management system for the national network. ADIF owns the intellectual property rights to Da Vinci software.

Netherlands.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... NETHERLANDS: A five-year infrastructure maintenance contract covering 300 km of track and 300 turnouts around Venlo and Eindhoven has been awarded to Strukton.

Norway.(INFRASTRUCTURE)
March 1, 2009... NORWAY: Jernbaneverket has awarded Nokia Siemens Networks a 20-year contract to support the GSM-R network it supplied and which has now been in operation for more than a year.