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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.

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