Rail Projects

How do you drill a rail tunnel through lava? No, it’s not a metaphor or an idea concocted by some sociopathic Bond villain, it’s a genuine challenge that engineers delivering a new metro system in the Saudi Arabian city of Madinah will have to face. Madinah has a growing population. Within...

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne has praised railway staff who worked over Easter. ‘Our 14,000-strong army was determined to make sure everything went to plan this weekend and I’m proud to say it did,’ says Carne in a heartfelt statement. ‘I want to personally thank each one of you...

Thales is to design and manufacture the signalling system for Taiwan's second tram system, the Danhai Light Rail Transit. The €17 million contract includes the construction of a new Operational Control Centre (OCC). The solution will be developed with China Steel Corp...

MTR has completed tunnelling on the drill-and-blast section of the high-speed Express Rail Link (XRL) in Hong Kong. Lining and track-laying is now underway between Ngau Tam Mei and Tai Kong Po. The 2.6-kilometre tunnel is the final section of drill-and-blast...

Phase two of the LGV Est high-speed railway in France has been completed, cutting journey times between Paris and Strasbourg. On March 31, the final weld was made on the second stage of the line between Baudrecourt and Vendenheim. The first 300-kilometre...

It was a very ordinary structure, comprising two spans across the Ouse to the north of York Station. Its replacement, installed over the February half term, is also pretty average. You might wonder then why I’m wasting your time telling you about it, or indeed why the project cost £6...

West Midlands' transport authority Centro has confirmed the route of the Midland Metro Eastside extension in Birmingham. The extension will take trams from Curzon Street, the site of Birmingham's HS2 hub station, along New Canal Street and Meriden Street then on...

Since Eurostar moved from Waterloo to St Pancras, the International platforms have lain mostly unused. This despite the fact that Waterloo is London’s busiest terminal with 98 million passengers in 2013/14 and a train arriving or departing virtually every minute during peak times and it could badly do with the...

An investigation has been launched into a proposed high-speed train test centre near Malaga over concerns about its eligibility for EU funding. The European Commission (EC) has launched an in-depth investigation to assess whether or not plans for a 55-kilometre...

The Valladolid-León high-speed line is on course to be commissioned before this summer, Spain's Minister of Development has announced. Ana Pastor made the comments during a test ride along the new standard gauge railway, which will extend the Madrid-Valladolid line and...