New action plans seek to reduce Link project delays
New report ascribes significant delays to four major projects to expand Seattle’s regional Link light rail service to construction issues, pandemic-related challenges and industrial action .
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UKTram bolsters engineering capacity
Phillip Terry joins as Lead Engineer, taking forward a number of key initiatives as the trade body seeks to grow its engineering competence and enhance collaboration between the sector.
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San Diego light rail figures show strong recovery
Latest MTS figures show a 52% year-on-year increase in light rail trips compared to 2021. A 66% boost in Blue line patronage follows the November 2021 opening of the 18km (11-mile) Mid-Coast Trolley Extension.
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Tenders called for Guadalajara LRT line 4
With a construction period of 22 months, the 21km (13-mile) addition to Guadalajara’s light rail network is expected to open in 2024.
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Nizhny Tagil ‘retro’ trams enter service
Russian city receives low-floor ‘sightseeing’ trams from Uraltransmash, a gift from the regional government of Sverdlovsk oblast to mark its 300th anniversary.
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MBTA Orange and Green line closures
Subway and light rail service suspensions announced for August and September to address maintenance backlogs and allow completion of new connecting lines.
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New delays to Edmonton’s Valley Line Southeast LRT
September opening of Edmonton’s new low-floor line postponed following the discovery of cracks in the line’s elevated sections.
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Canberra places CAF order as Stage 2A works begin
ACT Government places AUD181.2m order for five more Urbos low-floor trams, retrofitting the existing fleet with onboard energy storage and depot expansion.
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EUR456m for tram and metro projects in Rome
Two new tram routes, an extension of metro line C and the purchase of 40 new low-floor trams funded in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility .
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Two shortlisted for Calgary Green line
Following a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in March, two consortia have been shortlisted for the design-build-finance contract for the first 18km (11.2-mile) phase of Calgary’s Green light rail line.
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Grand ambitions in Szczecin
A comprehensive and historic tramway network which is seeing significant reconstruction as it moves to low-floor operation; Andrew Thompson reports from north-western Poland.
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Coventry VLR: Roll on 2024
Monday 4 April was momentous for the Very Light Rail team at Coventry City Council. This was the day that the West Midlands’ ‘ask’ of GBP1.05bn (EUR1.25bn) for a package of rail, tram, bus and active travel improvements for the coming five years received formal approval under the UK Government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS).
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SmartWindows into the future
Passengers in Karlsruhe can now access timetabling and disruption information… through their window. The team behind the SmartMMI project explains how it works.
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Empowering operations teams with real-time information
The team from Transit9 explores the importance of user-friendliness when implementing new technology and processes.
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A vision of the urban tram’s future
Imagine a modular autonomous tram which carried passengers during the day and freight in the evening. Such a vision was recently confirmed as the winner of the prestigious DESING+ competition organised by the University of West Bohemia…
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Always ahead of the game
Patrick Lamb, Managing Director of Severn Lamb, describes the process of creating bespoke vehicles for some of the more unusual light rail projects.
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Coming of the Tempe Streetcar
With an innovative new urban streetcar due to open on 20 May and expansion of its existing LRT system underway, Vic Simons revisits Arizona.
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A life without wires
Mott MacDonald’s Chris Tindall assesses the positives and negatives of a range of technologies promoted as an alternative to traditional LRT electrification.
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Tram-train learning
Simon Coulthard and Alex Dodds of Network Rail’s Light Rail Team describe the creation of the innovative online data resource which presents a ‘warts and all’ overview of the UK’s tram-train pilot.
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The Southampton Tram Project: Over 40 years in the making
Until 2020, this Southampton group was working largely away from public gaze, painstakingly restoring local trams with minimal funding and manpower. Martin Petch relates progress.
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UK Very Light Rail Conference
Attendees to this one-day event in June will hear from the teams involved in delivering the Coventry Urban VLR project and Revolution VLR.
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Light rail: The key to sustainable mobility
The European Light Rail Congress brings together many senior and key professionals from across Europe for two days of debate covering innovation and new technologies with light rail being a key driver to sustainable mobility.
read moreLight rail events for 2022
Mainspring’s 2022 events diary: Details about the European Light Rail Congress, 16th Annual UK Light Rail Conference, and Global Light Rail Awards.
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Mainspring LRT Excellence Day: From theory to practice
Sharing innovation, new technologies and best practice between engineers and the supply chain in Wolverhampton.
read moreRail Live 2021
Rail Live is a unique event bringing the full railway industry together to explore technology, innovation and strategy for the entire rail supply chain.
read moreEvents for 2022
Dates for your diaries for 2022’s events
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Sharing experience in Zaragoza
Geoff Butler rounds up the highlights from this year’s European Light Rail Congress in north-eastern Spain, a further return for face-to-face events for a mobility sector disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Celebrating success…. virtually
Global pandemic didn’t stop the sector recognising excellence and innovation.
read moreCOVID forces InnoTrans cancellation
The 2020 running of the world’s largest rail exhibition – held in Berlin biennially since 1996 – has been cancelled.
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Rail Live!
Rail Live! is now firmly positioned as one of the world’s most exciting rail events. This event brings top tier leaders of the rail industry together to discuss topics critical to future developments in the premium conference, alongside an action-packed exhibition which attracts the full rail supply chain.
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