News

Metrolink extensions approved

2010-03-08T17:29:42Z

Manchester - UK (03/08/2010) The Government has granted final funding approval of £120.9m to the two tram extensions to Ashton and East Didsbury. This means the Manchester Metrolink system is set to double in capacity once these two extensions and the ones to Oldham, Rochdale, and Chorlton, have all been completed. As Sadiq Khan, Britain's Transport MInister, said:"Metrolink is at the heart of Manchester's transport system and has been providing a great service to the travelling public for more than a decade. People travelling to and from Didsbury and Ashton will now reap the benefits of a having a direct link to the City Centre". The proposed 4.5km Chorlton to East Didsbury extension will run on the route of a former railway line and will include five new tram stops, connecting Chorlton with Withington, West Didsbury, Burton Road Didsbury Village and East Didsbury. The Ashton extension will see 3.9 km of new track laid and four new stops, connecting the town centres of Droylsden and Ashton. The funding will also pay for six trams to the Metrolink fleet and two new park and ride sites at Ashton Moss and Ashton West for over 600 cars. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive plans to commence main construction works early next year, with the East Didsbury line anticipated to be ready for service in summer 2013 and the Ashton line ready for service in winter 2013/14.

Bombardier wins the tender from SNCF

2010-02-25T17:00:03Z

Paris - France (02/24/2010) The framework contract for the new regional double-deck trains organized by the French Railways (SNCF) on behalf of the French Regions has been won by Bombardier Transportation. 860 double-deck electrical multiple units (EMU) for a total amount of approximately 8 billion euros ($11 billion US) will be designed and manufactured. So far, Aquitaine, Bretagne, Centre, Nord-Pas de Calais, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes have place orders. First deliveries are scheduled to take place in June 2013 and will continue until December 2015. Bombardier developed especially for this tender a new double-deck train platform. It includes the following characteristics: a modular concept to meet the Regions’ various needs in terms of suburban, regional and intercity services; wide-body cars to offer unmatched capacity and a high level of comfort; an articulated architecture and wide connectors which create transparency throughout the length of the train and an increased sense of security. This train features technical innovations in terms of reliability, availabililty, and sustainability, while generating economic benefits, like reduced maintenance costs and energy consumption.

New order of Talent 2 for Deutsche Bahn (DB)

2010-02-17T14:42:18Z

Berlin - Germany (02/17/2010) Bombardier Transportation will supply another 48 TALENT 2 trains to Deutsche Bahn (DB) AG. This recent order amounts to approximately 200 million euros ($272 million US) and has brought the number of TALENT 2 vehicles ordered by DB up to 176. The new trains will run on Berlin-Brandenburg’s transport network (Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg - VBB). The vehicles for VBB will operate on the routes Magdeburg – Brandenburg – Berlin – Frankfurt/Oder – Eisenhüttenstadt – Cottbus and Dessau – Belzig – Berlin – Wünsdorf-Waldstadt and later Senftenberg. On the route RE 9 the TALENT 2 trains will also be servicing the capital’s new airport, Berlin Brandenburg International. The fleet consists of 26 three-car and 22 five-car vehicles. They will be delivered between 2011 and 2012. As station platforms within the VBB-network vary, 12 three-car trains and 19 five-car trains will have an entry platform height of 600 mm. The remaining trains will have an entry platform height of 800 mm.

Tango for Stuttgart too

2010-02-04T22:24:26Z

Stuttgart - Germany (02/04/2010) On January 26, in Berlin, Stuttgarter Strassenbahnen AG signed an order (worth €77 million) for 20 Light Rail Vehicles from Stadler Pankow GmbH. The order is for the Tango, which is comparable to S-DT8 vehicles already operating in Stuttgart. As Michael Daum, Director of Stadler Pankow GmbH, said: ” We are very happy about this considerable achievement. Stadler Pankow has once again succeeded with its concept for modular Light Rail Vehicles. This order confirms that we are accepted as an established market provider of trams and Light Rail Vehicles”. The two-section Tango for Stuttgart have a length of 38.6 metres and a width of 2.65 metres. The appealing interior has 108 seats and 144 standing places as well as air conditioning for both passengers and driver. Four doorways on each of the bidirectional vehicle’s sides permit a rapid exchange of passengers. The completely high-floor Light Rail Vehicles perform at a top speed of 80 km/h.

Geneva order 32 new Tango

2010-01-31T23:25:36Z

Geneva | Switzerland (02/01/2010) Tango is the evocative name of the new trams that will begin entering service throughout the Geneva region’s public transportation network by the end of 2011. Last June, the planned purchases were publicly put out to tender in order to implement the canton’s structure plan for public transportation between 2011 and 2014. The winner of the tender was the Swiss company Stadler Rail. The procurement includes the delivery of 32 new vehicles in the time period from 2011 to 2014 and will be worth a total of CHF 154 million (105 million euro), value added tax excluded. The new trams will complement TPG’s existing vehicle fleet for the significantly extended metre-gauge network and will meet requirements for future mobility in the growing region of Geneva–Vaud–France. Since 2003, Geneva’s tram network has expanded yearly by the addition of a new line or leg. The expansion of lines 14 and 16 to CERN (TCMC project, stage 3) is already on its way to completion by the end of 2010; and after two intensive years of construction, the line to Bernex (TCOB project) should be opened in 2011. The final stage will be marked by the first delivery of TPG’s newly acquired Tango trams. Each of the new tram are bidirectional vehicles with five articulations. They are 44 metres long and 2.30 metres wide and weigh 57 tonnes, having a capacity of 261 passengers, 88 of which are seated. The seven platform-level entrances with folding doors provide sufficient space for wheelchairs and thus meet legal public transport requirements for disabled people.

Opening of the Olympic Line in Vancouver

2010-01-22T17:26:58Z

Vancouver - Canada (01/22/2010) Raymond Bachant, President Bombardier Transportation North America, and Gregor Robertson, Mayor of the City of Vancouver, inaugurated on Thursday the Olympic Line, a 1.8-kilometre street car tram line, running on south False Creek and connecting Granville Island to the Athletes Village and the Canada Line. The service on the line will be operated by two BOMBARDIER FLEXITY streetcars. The 100% low floor streetcars will be used to provide free service 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, between January 21 and March 21, 2010. It has to be noticed that the two vehicles are a loan from the Brussels Transport Company STIB (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles) and they will be sent back after the Games, when the Olympic Line will stop running. However, there are high hopes that this project could be an important step to encourage people of Vancouver to take more transit even when the Games will be over. As Raymond Bachant said: “We are confident that these award-winning vehicles will demonstrate the potential role that streetcars could play in the future of transportation in Metro Vancouver”.

Siemens signed a contract to modernize PATH

2010-01-19T18:13:34Z

New York - USA (01/19/2010) A consortium, led by the Siemens Mobility Division and that includes the Invensys Rail Corporation and D/A Builders LCC, signed a contract with the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH), to upgrade the rail system connecting New Jersey, both Newark and Hoboken, and downtown Manhattan (in New York City). Thanks to the implementation of CBTC (Communication-based Train Control), the intervals between the trains will be reduced and more trains can use the same track. The new system, based on the communication of data between rail vehicles and track-side equipment by radio (WLAN - Wireless LAN), will increase the passenger capacity (from 240,000 passengers to 290,000 passengers per day), the safety and the reliability of the rail system, while reducing ongoing maintenance costs. The contract is €224 million (US $321 million) worthy and the project is expected to be completed by 2017.

Metro Santiago: five new stations added

2010-01-17T11:20:36Z

Santiago - Chile (01/17/2010) Michelle Bachelet, Chile's Prime Minister, alongside the Chairman of Metro de Santiago, Clemente Perez, and the Metropolitan Mayor, Igor Garafulic, inaugurated on Tuesday the first section of the extension of Line 5, which includes five new stations (Gruta de Lourdes, Blanqueado, Lo Prado, San Pablo and Pudahuel) and that benefits about 450 thousand people. With the commissioning of this new installment (5,6 Km), the Santiago metro network reaches 95 kilometers. The station Pudahuel becomes now the new terminal to the west, through the end of 2010, when is scheduled to open the second planned section of the extension that will reach the Plaza de Maipú. The second tranche of the extension of Line 5 will include 7 stations: Barrancas, South Laguna, Parcels, Mount Tabor, Del Sol, Santiago Bueras and Plaza de Maipú.

Alstom selected as preferred bidder to supply 27 Citadis tramways to the conurbation of Rouen

2010-01-04T22:48:11Z

Rouen - France (01/04/2010) The urban community of Rouen today has selected Alstom as preferred bidder to supply 27 Citadis tramways. The contract, valued over €90 million, should be notified in January 2010. The conurbation would then renew its confidence in Alstom solutions, 15 years after the delivery of the current TFS (standard French tramway) tramways. Growth in traffic in Rouen and its suburbs has resulted in the authorities deciding to replace the tramsets already in service to increase passenger capacity. The new Citadis tramways ordered for Rouen are 42 metres long by 2.40 metres wide, and will be able to carry over 60% more traffic than the current tramsets. Each can hold nearly 300 passengers, which is the equivalent of more than four buses. A total of 38,300 extra passengers will be able to be transported every day. The Rouen conurbation will be receiving trams that have proven their value on the market because Alstom’s Citadis tramway is now a global benchmark for performance. To date, a total of 1,382 Citadis trams have been ordered by 34 cities around the world, while a further 60 cities have tramway projects in the pipeline.

Sound Transit opens Link light rail service to SeaTac

2010-01-04T00:27:59Z

Seattle - USA (01/04/2010) The first 14 miles of light rail opened from downtown Seattle to Tukwila in July. From December 22 the final segment from Tukwila to SeaTac / Airport Station, built under a close partnership with the Port of Seattle, provides a reliable 36 minute ride to the airport from downtown with 13 stops serving the SODO, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley and Tukwila neighborhoods. Service on the 1.7-mile extension line kicked off with an inaugural ribbon cutting at SeaTac / Airport Station before the station and trains opened for regular passenger service at 10 a.m. “With more than 30 million passengers through Sea-Tac every year, and 15,000 airport employees, we anticipate light rail will be a welcome “green” alternative for travel to and from the airport,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner John Creighton. “Using light rail will reduce air emissions and traffic congestion. It’s good for the airport and it’s good for our region.” Sound Transit and the Port of Seattle collaborated on the Airport Link project which included the new light rail station, pedestrian bridges connecting the station to the airport parking garage and a pick-up and drop-off area to the east serving the city of SeaTac. The Port also relocated and upgraded the Airport Expressway and the Return-to-Terminal roadway loop. The next light rail extension is scheduled to open in 2016 with service from downtown Seattle to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington. Construction is underway on that segment while Sound Transit plans for 36 more miles of light rail extensions to Lynnwood, Bellevue, Redmond, Mercer Island and Federal Way by 2023. More info on Seattle light rail our book CityRailways volume 1.