World Railway News 21st March 2012

From: International Railway Journal

SNCF inaugurates rebuilt Paris St Lazare station GUILLAUME Pepy, president of French National Railways (SNCF), today marked the completion of 10 years of work when he inaugurated the rebuilt St Lazare station in Paris. With 1600 trains and 450,000 passengers a day, St Lazare is the second busiest station in France.

EIB to finance Paris light rail expansion THE European Investment Bank signed a €200m finance agreement with the Ile de France regional government on March 16, which will help to fund the expansion of the Paris light rail network. Stadler rolls-out first Kiss double-decker for BLS THE first of 28 Kiss double-deck emus for Swiss operator BLS was unveiled today in Erlen by Mr Peter Spuhler owner of Stadler and Mr Bernard Guillelmon, CEO of BLS. The first train is due to enter service on the Bern S-Bahn in December and delivery of the SFr 494m ($US 552m) contract will be completed in late 2014. Sydney North West Rail Link moves forward A TOTAL of 15 major tenders and 25 contracts have now been awarded for works on Sydney's A$ 8bn ($US 8.4bn) North West Rail Link, including planning approvals, noise and vibration expertise and land surveys. ALL to sell Argentine concessions LATIN American Logistics (ALL) has announced plans to sell its two freight concessions in Argentina to the Italian-Argentine Techint group. Subject to government approval, the transaction will cover the 1676mm-gauge 5690km Central network connecting Buenos Aires with Mendoza and San Juan provinces and the plus 2704km Mesopotámico standard-gauge network which links the capital with the north eastern provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Misiones, with connections to Paraguay and Uruguay. ALL has operated both networks since 1999 under a 25-year concession. From: www.railway-technology.com JICA to fund Cairo's fourth metro lineThe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Government to provide a loan of JPY32.717bn ($391m) to finance the construction of Cairo's fourth metro line's first phase.                            Bombardier in pole position to design and build 775 new BART rail cars Bombardier Transportation has emerged as the lead contender to win a $3.4bn contract to design and build 775 new bay area rapid transit (BART) rail cars, as a replacement for BART trains which are the oldest fleet of public transit trains in San Francisco, US.                            ABB develops new power traction transformer to increase train efficiencyABB has developed a new power electronic traction transformer (PETT) to reduce the size and weight of on-board components, and increase train energy efficiency.                            Crossrail awards Victoria Dock portal contract to VinciCrossrail has awarded a contract to Vinci Construction for the last remaining tunnel portal at Victoria Dock in the UK.        US Railroad News from www.progressiverailroading.com House committee's FY13 resolution 'worst-ever' for transportation, TDD says; House to extend SAFETEA-LU again Alaska Railroad solicits public feedback on North Pole project's draft environmental report San Diego MTS logging high passenger counts in current fiscal year Oklahoma port seeks to add second track Virginia port pumped up volume in February WMATA prepares to launch improved peak-period service Watco assigns Henderson, Stephenson to GM posts March 21: Updates from Siemens, Alternative Motive Power Systems, Axion, Hirschmann Automation, RailComm and Alstom