Arup AECOM JV secures consultancy contract for Northern Link project

The Arup AECOM joint venture (JV) has secured a preliminary design consultancy contract from Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR) to conduct the planning and design for the proposed Northern Link main line project.

Work will include the development of the scheme into an engineering design, preparing the construction programme and gazette plans, as well as determining the cost estimate.

The Arup AECOM JV will work closely with MTR’s Capital Works team to deliver the works.

Alstom unveils production line for new TGV trains

Rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has launched the production line for its latest TGV trains at La Rochelle workshops in France.

The new TGV M train, which is the result of a collaboration between Alstom and the Rolling Stock and TGV-Intercités divisions of SNCF Voyageurs, will operate on the national network from 2024.

Alstom secured an order for 115 units, including 100 domestic and 15 international, which are suitable for both InOui and Ouigo TGV services.

Ten of the company’s 16 locations in France are engaged in the design of the new train. The project is anticipated to create up to 4,000 jobs in the French rail industry.

The number of cars in the new train can be adjusted as per the market’s requirements and the interior can be reconfigured by removing or adding seats, bicycle, or luggage spaces. It will help rapidly convert first-class space into a second-class and vice versa.

These new trains will provide up to 740, or 20% more, seats compared with the current maximum of 634 seats.  

DIF and Amber Infrastructure to buy Australia’s Rail First

DIF Capital Partners, via its DIF Core-plus Infrastructure Fund III, and the Amber Infrastructure Group, have agreed to take over Australian rail freight leasing company Rail First.

Both the firms signed an agreement to buy Rail First, on a 50/50 basis, from Anchorage Capital Partners.

According to media sources, the deal valued Rail First at A$425m ($288.6m).

Rail First provides leasing solutions for rolling stock such as locomotives besides intermodal and hopper wagons, as well as maintenance solutions. Rail First provides leases between three and five years.

It is anticipated to benefit from long-term tailwinds, including the Inland Rail project between Melbourne and Brisbane after it becomes operational.

The deal, which is pending approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, is expected to complete by the end of October this year.

ST Engineering unit wins $1bn rail contract in Taiwan

Singapore Technologies Engineering’s (ST Engineering) subsidiary Urban Solutions, as part of a consortium, has received a $1bn (S$1.4bn) rail contract from Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit Bureau in Taiwan.

Under the contract, Urban Solutions will deliver turnkey rail services for the new Kaohsiung MRT Yellow Line.

The company will provide rail electronics solutions and above-ground train depot design, construction, and equipment fit-out for the new line.

It will also be the systems integration lead besides taking responsibility for overall project management.

ST Engineering will supply the communications system, automatic fare collection system, and platform screen doors for the Yellow Line.

The delivery will also include the depot design and construction, and depot maintenance equipment for the line.

The contract scope is anticipated to begin by the end of this year, spanning over a ten-year period.

Russian missile hits Ukraine’s Chaplyne train station

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov stated that an Iskander precision missile strike at Chaplyne railway station in Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk region has hit a Ukrainian military train.

This strike by the Russian troops eliminated more than 200 reservists moving to Donbas, reported Russian state-owned news agency TASS.

The spokesman was quoted by the news agency as saying: “A direct hit by an Iskander missile against a troop train at the Chaplyne railway station in the Dnepropetrovsk Region eliminated over 200 reservists of the Ukrainian army and 10 pieces of military equipment bound for the Donbas combat area.”

However, the attack is also said to have resulted in the death of 25 people, including children, according to Kyiv.

The Defense Ministry also stated that its aerospace forces mutilated the command post of the Ukrainian army’s Kakhovka battlegroup, as well as over 60 militants in the Nikolayev Region in their special operation in Ukraine.

London’s Elizabeth Line to offer new direct links from November

The Elizabeth Line is set to connect trains to central London from Reading, Heathrow, and Shenfield from 6 November this year.

Transport for London will also open a new Bond Street Elizabeth line station during the same month.

From 6 November, the lines from Reading, Heathrow, and Shenfield will be linked with the central tunnels of the Elizabeth line, thereby helping passengers travel east to Abbey Wood without changing at Paddington.

The final timetable, which will help manage 24 trains per hour during the peak between Paddington and Whitechapel, is expected to be placed by May 2023.