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In brief

18/4/2017

 
Green light for Sydney metro extension

NEW South Wales Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance has confirmed construction will start this year on the new Sydney Metro tunnels which will run under Sydney Harbour and the CBD.

Mr Constance said the scale of the project “will rival any megaproject across the globe and is an unprecedented boost to rail capacity for this great city”.

Construction sites will be established in the Sydney CBD, and by the end of 2018 the first of five tunnel-boring machines will be in the ground carving out new twin tunnels.

Sydney Metro will have ultimate capacity of a new metro train every two minutes in each direction under the Sydney CBD and 31 metro stations from Rouse Hill to Bankstown.

Planning approval includes:
  • delivering 16.5km of new metro rail between Chatswood and Sydenham, including 15.5km of new twin railway tunnels under Sydney Harbour and the Sydney CBD; and
  • seven new metro railway stations at Crows Nest, Victoria Cross (North Sydney), Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street, Central (with new underground platforms) and Waterloo.

Italian level crossings for Vietnam
​

ITALIAN company the Wegh Group SpA, which has been operating at international level for more than 50 years, is consolidating its presence in the Asian market with the supply of a first important order of level crossing equipment for Vietnam Railways.

The 150 PL TD96/2 level crossing machines have been chosen and approved after an experimental period overseen by the engineers of Vietnam Railways, who tested similar products from several international companies.

Wegh’s level crossings were selected because of their operating reliability, which also saw them employed by Italian State Railways. Since 2005 Italian State Railways and many regional rail networks have installed more than 9000 level crossing machines throughout the Italian peninsula.

In Vietnam, Wegh’s TD96/2 level crossing machines will be used to protect the most important road crossings along the main railway lines from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) as part of a broader plan to strengthen and modernise the rail service.

Wegh, with its own technical experts, has followed the type-approval stage, provided technical assistance for the first installations and trained the staff who handle facilities management, under an agreement which provides for additional supplies.

Worker protection system for Denver regional rail

HARSCO'S Protran Technology unit, part of the Harsco Rail division, has received a new order to equip the entire Denver, Colorado, United States, regional railway fleet with enhanced safety systems designed and produced by Protran.

Regional Transportation District (RTD) Denver has selected Protran’s Roadway Worker Protection System for installation across all 400 of its train units and supporting track maintenance work crews, while Protran’s Collision Avoidance System will be installed on the district’s on-track equipment. RTD Denver provides transportation to 2.8 million people. Installations are expected to begin soon and be completed in the second half of this year. The terms of the order have not been disclosed.

Protran’s Roadway Worker Protection System alerts track maintenance work crews of an approaching train or other railway vehicle entering their work zone. Protran’s collision avoidance system enforces safe operating distances between railway work equipment, track workers and restricted areas through the use of real-time distance measures combined with audio-visual alerts.

Alstom-Bombardier win big contract

FRANCE'S national rail operator, SNCF, has selected the Alstom-Bombardier consortium to replace the trains on lines D and E of the Île-de-France network.

This contract for 255 trains (130 for the RER D and 125 for the RER E), worth an estimated €3.75 billion ($5.3b), is the largest contract ever financed by Syndicat des transports d’Île-de-France (STIF) – the transport organisation authority that controls the Paris public transport network.

Alstom, in partnership with Bombardier, will design and supply the new generation of two-tier equipment for lines D and E of the Île-de-France network, which is operated by SNCF Transilien. The first firm part of the order comprises the delivery of 71 trains for an estimated €1.55b ($2.15b), 100 per cent funded by STIF. (This amount includes all design studies, industrialisation, project management and homologation for a value of €450m ($625m).)

These first 71 trains will be delivered and enter service from 2021 onwards. The Alstom-Bombardier consortium’s share of this first part of the contract is worth €1.155b ($1.6b) (about 70pc Alstom/30pc Bombardier).

This ‘boa’ train is entirely open (without separations between the cars) and was specifically designed for the dense zones of traffic in Île-de-France. Thanks to its large doors, the train provides extremely fluid passenger exits and entrances and offers three distinct travel spaces.

Taiwan Citadis contract a first for Alstom

ALSTOM has been awarded a contract by China Steel Co to supply 15 Citadis trams for Kaohsiung tramway project phase two, which is expected to start revenue service in 2019. This tramway project is the first for Alstom in Taiwan and adds to recent Asia-Pacific successes, notably in China and Australia.

Phase two – which is 13.4km long and includes 23 stations – is part of the Kaohsiung tramway line which will be 22.1km long and include 37 stations. This new line will run all around the city and will be connected to two existing Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines: Red and Orange.

Alstom will provide the Citadis X05, which is equipped with the latest technologies including permanent magnet motors to reduce energy consumption. Alstom will also equip the trams with its Citadis Ecopack, an onboard energy storage solution located on the roof which enables the tram to run without a catenary from one station to another. Citadis Ecopack enables the tram to be fully charged through the catenary when stopped at stations in 20 seconds.

In brief

11/4/2017

 
Institute calls for faster service for Geelong

COMMUTERS on Victoria’s Geelong-Melbourne route should have the choice of some express train services – stopping only at North Geelong and Footscray and taking 50 minutes for the full journey to or from Southern Cross Station – if they are to benefit from the $4.2 billion Regional Rail Link (RRL) project, according to independent advocacy group Rail Futures Institute (RFI).

“Current journey times are now no faster than they were in 1958, partly because new suburban stations have been added to the Geelong line, and more are planned to service new communities in the burgeoning south-west Melbourne metropolitan corridor,” RFI honorary secretary Dr Bill Russell said. “Overcrowding on trains to these stations means that RRL has already become a victim of its own success. It is turning the Geelong line into a suburban line and risks defeating RRL’s purpose of separating V/Line and Metro trains to allow speedier journeys for regional passengers.”

Commenting in mid February, Dr Russell said a proposed timetable adjustment would be only a short-term solution, however.

“Within a few years, Geelong line train capacity will be fully utilised and the only solution to maintain service levels for Geelong commuters will be for the Wyndham Vale corridor to be separated from V/Line services by electrifying the present RRL tracks to Wyndham Vale and extending the Werribee metropolitan line to Wyndham Vale via a new link and interchange at Black Forest Road.”

Dr Russell said adding a pair of express tracks to the RRL lines would cut the Geelong-Melbourne journey time to 45 minutes and potentially take 40,000 cars off the road – the equivalent in congestion-busting of creating a 10-lane each-way freeway. Rail Futures Institute also pointed out that track duplication was urgently needed between South Geelong and Waurn Ponds to service rapidly expanding communities to the west and south of Geelong CBD.

Dr Bill Russell said the group did not believe new rolling stock was needed for the Geelong line as the present VLocity trains were ideal, being fast and comfortable. Additional VLocity trains are still being built.

Rail Futures Institute’s longer-term proposals for the Geelong rail service are contained in its ‘InterCity’ report, released in September 2016. The report proposes an increase in peak-time service frequency to every 10 minutes by 2026 and every 7.5 minutes by 2040 under the phased plan.

It also proposes the establishment of a Geelong Metro network, including a new line from South Geelong to Drysdale making use of the former Queenscliff line reservation and a line to Torquay. Geelong Metro trains would serve Lara and townships as far afield as Bannockburn on a reinstated passenger rail route to Ballarat.
​
The InterCity plan formed the centrepiece of a serious strategy to 
RFI is an independent, non-partisan group formed to advocate sustainable rail solutions for public transport and freight problems. Its membership includes highly experienced rail professionals, engineers, urban planners and economists.

From the editor: April–June 2017

4/4/2017

 
Freight investment crucial

THE speed restrictions placed on several of Victoria’s key wheat-carrying rail lines highlights the lack of investment in the state’s infrastructure. There is, no doubt, a similar lack of investment in other states.

It also indicates a lack of consultation between V/Line and the major users of the state’s regional rail lines. While V/Line points out it is investing heavily in the Murray Basin Rail Project, that would not be much comfort for grain handlers trying to get what looks set to be a record harvest to ports.

Grain handlers have indicated that the initial ban on movements when the temperature reached 33°C, later amended to train speeds being limited to 30kmh, had reduced the overall capacity of the network and delayed grain reaching export ports.

The restrictions also placed more trucks on regional roads which are already suffering from a lack of maintenance. One grain handler described the situation as “less than ideal” – a classic piece of understatement.

Farmers have also been angered by the speed limits and have urged the Victorian Government to spend more in rail infrastructure and described rail as still the best way of moving bulk commodities like grain.

One wonders if our major grain-exporting competitors like Canada and the United States have a similar lack of investment in rail. Somehow, we doubt it.


– TONY DUBOUDIN
    COMING UP

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    CORE 2021 Conference on Railway Excellence
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Track+Signal team

EDITOR Tony Duboudin
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Leon Oberg
SALES
​
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