THE Management Authority for Urban Railways (Maur) in Ho Chi Minh City has awarded a contract to the Shimizu Maeda Joint Operation, Japan, to construct a section of the city's first metro line.

 

The Yen 23.7bn ($US 232m) contract is for Package 1B of a 2.6km underground section of Line 1 between Ben Thanh Market and Ba Son Shipyard. Package 1B comprises the section from Opera House to Ba Son Shipyard, which is nearly 2km long and includes the construction of a four-level station to a depth of 40m at Opera House. Work is expected to start in August and will take 56 months to complete. The design of Ben Thanh Market station is being revised but should be completed soon to allow the contract for Package 1A from there to Opera House to be awarded before the end of the year.

 

Construction of the17km elevated section between Ba Son and Suoi Tien is already underway following the award of a contract to the Sumitomo Cienco 6 joint venture in August 2012.

 

The total cost of the project is $US 2.5bn, of which 88% is being funded by Japan.

 

Test running on the entire 19.7km line is expected to start in 2019 with opening scheduled for 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

DELHI Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has issued an international tender notice for a contract to supply 124 1676mm-gauge metro cars for Delhi metro lines 1,2, and 3, which are being extended as part of the Phase 3 expansion of the network.

 

The contract has an estimated value of Rs 10.3bn ($US 171.5m) and the deadline for submission of offers is October 14.

 

DMRC says the new trains will need to be compatible with the existing fleet of Bombardier RS2 stock used on the city's broad-gauge lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IZMIR Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey, is trying to obtain a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to fund the acquisition of additional light metro trains.

 

If the loan application is successful, Izmir plans to invite bids during the third quarter of this year for 17 five-car light metro trains worth Lira 447m ($US 208m). The city will issue technical assistance tenders for the development of key performance indicators, out-sourcing and development of non-fare revenue; policy; and project procurement and implementation.

 

Test running is underway on a 5.5km underground extension to the existing 16km light metro line from Göztepe via Poligon to Fahrettin Altay. The light metro currently runs from Evka 3 in the northeast of Izmir via the city centre to Göztepe in the west. Three more extensions are planned, and Izmir is also building two light rail lines totalling 27.3km.

 

 

 

  

 

THE first of 18 driverless metro trains being built in China by Shanghai Alstom Transport (Satco) for the North East Line has arrived in Singapore.

 

The trains are part of a larger order for 42 trains placed by Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) in February 2012. The first of the other batch of 24 trains destined for the Circle Line was delivered on June 29.

 

LTA says the trains will undergo extensive and rigorous testing at the two line's depots and later on track before they enter service in mid-2015. The fleet will increase capacity on the Circle Line by 60% and by 70% on the North East Line.

 

 

 

 

HITACHI Rail Europe unveiled mock-ups of two new train designs for the European market in London on July 21: the AT100 metro train and the AT200 regional train.

 

The AT100, which has 20m-long car bodies, is aimed at inner-suburban stopping services and metros and has wide inter-car gangways designed by Dellner. The train will be designed to operate at up to a maximum speed of between 120 and 160km/h. The AT200 will have 23m-long bodyshells and a new design of sliding plug door developed by IFE, Austria. With a maximum speed of between 160 and 200km/h, the AT200 is aimed at longer-distance regional services. The AT200 features cantilevered seats and tables for ease of cleaning and maintenance, and to allow the interior layout to be changed. Both types of train are dual voltage with 25kV ac overhead and 750V dc third rail to make them suitable for the British market.

 

A mock-up of part of one vehicle for each train design was shown to prospective operators. Each coach has functioning equipment to demonstrate new technology specifically developed for this new family of electric aluminium-bodied trains. This includes a flexible passenger information system designed by Focon, Denmark, based on LCD screens which can used to show information or advertisements. Another Danish company – Aporta Digital – has designed an app which enables passengers to locate their reserved seat or find which seats are unreserved, and to secure their luggage electronically. Seats in the AT200 are fitted with QR codes, to enable passengers to log in using the app, and sensors supplied by Rechner Sensors to determine which seats are occupied by passengers. Schoenemann Design is responsible for the overall design of the AT100 and AT200.

 

Hitachi plans to build a prototype AT200 train and has offered the train to companies bidding for the new Scotrail franchise. Hitachi has also been shortlisted for the tender for 39 four-car emus for London Overground which is taking over the operation of services from London Liverpool Street to northeastern suburbs.

 

 

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ARGENTINEAN President Mrs Christina Kirchner and transport and interior minister Mr Florencio Randazzo officially launched the new fleet of Chinese-built suburban EMUs for Buenos Aires' Sarmiento Line on July 21, when the first trains entered passenger service between Once and Moreno.

 

Over the next few months the fleet of CSR Qingdao Sifang trains will completely replace line's current fleet of life-expired EMUs, some of which are more than 50 years old.

 

CSR is supplying 25 nine-car trains for the Sarmiento Line and 30 six-car trains for the Mitre Line under a contract awarded by the Argentine government in January 2013.

 

The first train was delivered to Argentina in February and seven sets are now in service on the Sarmiento Line. The remainder of the Sarmiento Line fleet is due to enter service by September, enabling the operation of a 10-minute interval service at peak times, while the trains will be introduced on the Mitre Line next year.

 

CSR is due to deliver the first of 300 new EMU cars for the 1676mm-gauge General Roca lines south of Buenos Aires in the next few months and the company also has a contract to supply 27 three-car DMUs for the metre-gauge Belgrano Sur lines. The first of these trains is also due to be delivered this year.

 

 

 

 

ARGENTINA and China signed a $US 2.1bn loan agreement during the state visit of Chinese president Mr Xi Jinping to Buenos Aires on July 18, which will be used to fund the revival of the metre-gauge Belgrano Cargas network.

 

The agreement was signed at a ceremony in the town of Maciel in Santa Fe province by Argentina's transport secretary Mr Alejandro Ramos and Mr Wang Hong, vice-president of China Machinery and Equipment Corporation (CMEC) and is part of a wider $US 7.5bn trade agreement between the two countries.

 

The Argentine treasury has also agreed to contribute $US 370m towards the rehabilitation of the network, taking the total investment to nearly $US 2.5bn.

 

The government says the investment will include 100 new locomotives and around 3500 new wagons, acquisition of components to return existing wagons to service, and track renewals, which are urgently needed on much of the 7350km network.

 

The government signed a contract with Systra on July 17 for preliminary engineering designs for the Jeddah metro. The value of the 20-month contract is 276m riyals.

 

Last year the Council of Ministers approved a 45bn riyal transport plan for the city, which includes a three-line light metro, buses and ferries, to be completed within seven years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has selected MTR Corporation to become the first operator of the new Crossrail line. The £1.4bn concession will be for eight years with an option to extend it by two years.

 

The contract value is nominal as it represents payments to MTR during the life of the concession before performance-related bonuses or penalties are applied. There were three other bidders for the contract: Arriva, National Express Group, and a joint venture of Keolis and GoAhead. "The decision to appoint MTR was reached after a thorough and competitive procurement process and we look forward to working with them to transform rail services in the capital," says Mr Mike Brown MVO, managing director of London Underground and London Rail.

 

Crossrail involves new construction in the centre of London, with 21km of twin-bore tunnels, linking Paddington in the west with Stratford and Abbey Wood in the east. Crossrail will also incorporate existing lines from Paddington west to Heathrow Airport and Reading and from Stratford east to Shenfield. The total network will be 118km long with 40 stations.

 

On May 31 2015, MTR will take over the operation of stopping services currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia between London Liverpool Street, Stratford and Shenfield using the existing EMU fleet which will be refreshed.

 

MTR will work with Bombardier which already has a £1bn contract to build and maintain a fleet of 65 nine-car EMUs for Crossrail. The first trains are expected to enter service on the Shenfield line in 2017.

 

MTR will take over the Heathrow Connect stopping service between Heathrow Airport and London Paddington in May 2018 which is currently operated by First Great Western and Heathrow Express.

 

Crossrail will then open in phases starting with Paddington – Abbey Wood in December 2018, followed by Paddington – Shenfield in May 2019. The full cross-London service to Reading and Heathrow Airport will be launched in December 2019.

 

Crossrail will operate at a peak frequency of 24 trains per hour on the core section in central London with an estimated 11.4 train-km being operated annually.

 

MTR expects to employ around 1100 staff, of which 850 will be new appointments with the remainder transferring from existing operators. There are expected to be around 400 train drivers.

 

MTR is already involved in running train services in London. MRT is in a 50:50 joint venture with German Rail (DB) though its Arriva subsidiary to operate the London Overground network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A consortium led by Ansaldo STS and including Tata Projects and CSR Zhuzhou has won a €78m turnkey contract for electrical and mechanical systems for the first phase of Navi Mumbai metro Line 1.

 

The contract covers the design, installation, testing and commissioning of the E&M works, which is expected to take two and half years, as well as three years of maintenance. Ansaldo STS is responsible for systems integration as well as the supply of Communications-Based Train Control, telecoms, automatic fare collection and equipment storage.

 

The 11·1 km first phase of Line 1 would run from Belapur to Pendhar with 11 stations. This phase includes a depot and a fleet of eight trainsets. Two further phases would extend the line to 23·4 km with 20 stations.

 

A six-line elevated metro is planned for the satellite new city near Mumbai, totalling 117 km. The standard gauge network would be electrified at 25 kV AC from overhead wires.

 

 

 

 

 

State Railway of Thailand is likely to be abolished under a wide-ranging reform programme planned by the interim military government.

 

Giving a briefing on railway investment in Bangkok on July 23, Dr Chula Sukmanop, Director-General of the Office of Transport & Traffic Policy & Planning, said the government saw restructuring of the rail sector as a prerequisite to support greater investment in the country’s main line network.

 

‘We cannot use SRT as a leader any more’, Sukmanop said. Vertical separation is envisaged through the establishment of a railway authority to manage the infrastructure and oversee investment projects. An independent regulatory body would also be established, and private operators would be encouraged to enter the market.

 

While the administration of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had planned construction of four 1 435 mm gauge fast passenger lines to link Bangkok with regional centres, the interim National Council for Peace & Order is prioritising double-tracking of the existing 1 000 mm gauge network. This would cover an initial five sections of route totalling 734 km:

 

Lop Buri – Paknampo, 143 km; Chachoengsao – Kangko, 106 km; Prachobrirekhan – Chumpon, 167 km; Mubkrabai – Jira, 134 km; Jira – Khon Khan, 184 km.

 

NCPO has not indicated a timescale or budget for the planned works, but Sukmanop said the Ministry of Finance had agreed to provide loans for land acquisition to expedite the programme. Funding would also be made available for the purchase of new locomotives, coaches and multiple-units, he added. The investment programme is being given added impetus by a desire to provide more capacity for potential international services if and when long-planned links to Vientiane and Phnom Penh become operational. Cross-border railway progress is again in focus as Thailand and its neighbours prepare for the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community free trade area at the start of 2015.

 

NCPO is also understood to be assessing the viability of a programme of gauge conversion, which has been discussed over several decades. The country has 4 000 km of metre gauge line, but just 29 km of 1 435 mm gauge on the newly-built link between Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi Airport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MTR Corp signed a memorandum of understanding on July 23 with the Chongqing municipal government for rail and property development in the municipality.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, MTR will discuss the potential for investment, construction and operation of one or more metro lines in the city. The authorities are also interested in residential, retail and office developments around stations and depots on the basis of MTR’s rail-plus-property model successfully harnessed by MTR in Hong Kong over many years.

 

The city of 30 million has a 170 km metro network, with plans to expand this to 300 km by 2020.

 

 

 

Trials are underway with an overhead electrification inspection, maintenance and repair vehicle capable of running at up to 160 km/h when travelling to worksites on high speed lines.

 

The multi-functional vehicle has been developed by CNR Beijing February 7 Railway Transportation Equipment Co, based on the Class 711 which is in service with DB Netz. It designed to be able to operate in tunnels, on steep gradients and in icy or snowy conditions, and has separate engines for high speed and low-speed operations. It carries seven technical staff, with a roof-mounted extendable platform to provide access to the overhead electrification equipment.

 

The manufacturer estimates that there is a potential market for 400 units in China.