International Railway Journal - July 2008 - (Page 13)

In brief Chilean capital awards train and track contracts ANTIAGO Metro has exercised an option to purchase an additional 12 three-car Metropolis emus from Alstom at cost of $US 71 million. The trains will be manufactured at Alstom’s plant in Lapa, Brazil, and will be delivered at the end of next year for use on Lines 4 and 4A. Amman The Jordanian government has awarded the $US 332 million build-operate-transfer contract for the 22.2km Amman - Zarqa light rail line to a consortium of Ineco-Tifsa, Spain, and a Kuwaiti company. The contract was initially awarded to a consortium of Chinese and Pakistani companies, but was renegotiated after the winning bidder failed to comply with the implementation agreement (IRJ May page 16). S The order follows an initial contract, which was signed in 2002. Meanwhile Balfour Beatty has been awarded a $US 72.8 million contract to construct track on the 4km extension of Line 1 from Escuela Militar to Los Domínicos, and on the 14.2km extension of Line 5 from Quinta Normal to Pudahuel and Plaza de Maipú. The extensions will open in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Contrasting bids for Córdoba metro RGENTINA’S second largest city, Córdoba, is to invite bids for the construction of the first metro in Argentina outside Buenos Aires. Two very different plans have already been put forward, one by Buenos Aires Metro operator Roggio Group, Argentina, and the other by Metro Córdoba, a consortium of Alstom, Iecsa, and Ghella, Italy. The Metro Córdoba A proposal consists of a 15.8km two-line network with 17 stations and will be constructed in two phases at a total cost of around $US 1.1 billion (see map). The first section would open in 2011, and would be a 6.3km line from Mitre station, where the planned high-speed services from Buenos Aires will terminate. The network would take around nine years to build and the consortium Cordoba Duarte Quirós Zípoli Belgrano Suquía River IRJ Patria Plaza Colóa Malpú Planned Metro Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Mainline Railway Existing line N Plaza España Mitre University City proposes a 30-year payback for the project. The three-line Roggio plan is significantly different, and has already been approved for bidding by both the national and municipal governments. Line A would be 10.2km long and would run on an eastwest alignment from Mitre to Colón Avenue, while Line B would run south from Belgrano station for 3.7km to University Campus, with a 2.7km branch to Las Flores. A 2km Line C would link España with Maipú. Roggio says construction could be completed in five years and the $US 1.25 billion project could be financed over a 30-year period. The government has yet to decide whether it will build the network in a single phase, and whether operation of the metro will be included in the contract. The winning bidder will provide most of the finance required for the project. Dubai Emaar Properties has unveiled plans to build a 5.7km light rail line to serve its Downtown Burj Dubai development. The initial phase of the $US 136 million project involves the construction of a 1.1km section from Burj Place metro station to Burj Dubai Boulevard, and will open by the end of next year to coincide with the opening of the metro. The remainder of the light rail line will open in 2010. Dublin The lengthening of Luas Red Line Alstom Citadis LRVs from 30m to 40m was completed in May. The project has increased capacity on the Red Line by 40%, and means the Luas fleet now consists entirely of 40m LRVs. Frankfurt Frankfurt Transport Authority (VGF) has taken delivery of the first of 146 Flexity Swift LRVs from Bombardier. Deliveries of the 25m-long bi-directional vehicles will run until late 2015. T HE Spanish city of Zaragoza inaugurated its first commuter rail line on June 11, making it the twelfth Spanish city to operate regular-interval suburban train services. The 16.6km east-west line runs from Casetas to Miraflores via Delicias, Portillo and Goya, serving the site of the world exposition, which is being held in the city this month. The line has a peak service interval of 30 minutes although this could be increased to 15 minutes as passenger numbers rise. Extensions west to Gallur, and east towards Cartuja and Fuentes de Ebro, together with a new north-south line are envisaged. Photo: Alfonso Marco Galway (Ireland) A study for the Gluas campaign group has suggested a 21km light rail network could be built in the city for ƒ200 million. A fleet of 19 trams would be required to operate the two-line network, which would consist of lines from Cappagh Road to Merlin Park, and Bushypark to Tuam Road. Jakarta The City Council has approved the creation of MRT Jakarta, a publically-owned IRJ July 2008 13 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sb/irj0508/index.php?startpage=18

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - July 2008

International Railway Journal - July 2008 Contents This Month News Transit News Market News/Technology News News Analysis Conference Report Korean Railways Face a Bright Future Korean Exports Surge Ahead Ready to Roll in China Velaro Shows Eastern Promise Are You Sitting Comfortably? Compin Meets New Challenges The Fabric of Society Grinding Out a Result Rendezvous Full Contact List The Last Word

International Railway Journal - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.