Regional editor Ian Thomson-Newman reports from the Rail LatAm conference held in Santiago in November, on the latest developments in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
SPAIN’s infrastructure manager Adif is working on a project to complete the track doubling of the entire 165km Valladolid - Palencia - León high-speed line and install ERTMS Level 2 to enable the maximum speed to be increased from 200km/h to 300km/h.
SPAIN’s prime minister Mr Mariano Rajoy officially inaugurated a 72km extension to the country’s high-speed network from Valencia to Castellón on the Mediterranean Corridor on January 22 ahead of the start of commercial services on January 23.
SPAIN’s infrastructure manager Adif has started tunnelling for a 4.5km rail link to serve both terminals at Barcelona Airport replacing the existing single-track branch line which only serves Terminal 2 on the north side of the airport.
SPANISH companies involved in the development and certification of the OGI automatic gauge-changing system have completed the first phase of dynamic testing. The OGI bogies are designed for use on freight routes crossing the Spanish-French border where the track gauge changes from 1668mm to 1435mm.
FIVE groups from Europe and Asia have applied to the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) to qualify to bid for its “early train operator” tender. The winner will work alongside CHSRA on the design, development and procurement of the high-speed rail service, with a view to a franchise agreement.
THE European Union’s (EU) Transforming Transport big data research project, which was launched in January and runs through to June 30 2019, is preparing to launch a rail pilot project in Spain as one of 13 pilot schemes in Europe covering all modes of transport.
FRANCE and Spain took control of the international high-speed rail link between both countries on December 21 after the contract with concessionaire TP Ferro was terminated following the company’s liquidation in September.
A consortium of Ineco, Spain, its Mexican subsidiary Inecomex, Spain’s infrastructure manager Adif, and Cal y Mayor y Asociados, Mexico, have been awarded a contract to supervise the construction of an extension to Line 12 of the Mexico City metro.
THIS week the European Commission (EC) ordered Adif, the Spanish infrastructure manager, to return €141m to the government that it was granted for the construction of a high-speed railway test centre in southern Spain designed to be used for trains at speeds up to 520km/h because it was never built.