21 GLOBAL RAILWAY PROJECTS IN 2021 E-BOOK TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 1: Metro ,

Estimated budget: $2.1 billion Line 1 of is destined to be completed by the end of 2021. It is a 19.7km route that will connect Suoi Tien Amusement Park, District 9, with Ben Thanh, District and include 14 stations. The initial plans for Line one were approved in 2008 but serious funding issues halted construction until late 2012 and almost a decade later the line should begin carrying its first passengers. It is estimated that by 2040 this network will be used by over 800,000 passengers, every single day and eventually comprise seven different lines. Work on Line 2 work has already begun last year and is estimated to be completed in the year 2024. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 2: Lagos-Ibadan Railway Line, Nigeria

Estimated budget: $1.53 billion The Lagos-Ibadan railway line has just been completed and has begun operations with passengers from January, 2021. It is known to be the first double- railway in West Africa. Prior to this enhancement the 156km journey took 2 hours and 40 minutes between Lagos and Ibadan. But, with this newly constructed route, the time has dropped to 2 hours. A $1.53 billion contract was awarded in 2012 to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation for construction of the Lagos–Ibadan segment (156 km) of the standard gauge railway by 2016. However, the project has also faced delays. A ground-breaking ceremony finally took place on 7 March 2017, and the railway was orginally scheduled for completion in December 2018. Construction was delayed by heavy rains in Spring 2018, and the Nigerian government had to deploy soldiers to protect the railway workers from hoodlums and armed robbers. Construction was further delayed by the 2019 Nigerian general election, when CCECC evacuated its Chinese employees as a precaution. Progress was slowed in 2020 by the social distancing needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, as only 20 workers were present on construction sites that once held 2000. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 3: Beijing–Shenyang high-speed Railway, China

Estimated budget: $21 billion The Beijing-Shenyang High-Speed railway in China has also been completed in the month of January 2021. The first passenger services commenced on January 22, from Chengde South to Beijing Chaoyang. The complete line of this project is stretched to 700 km and is destined to serve 16 stations in between the destinations. The lines allow trains to increase their speeds up to 200-250 km/hr. With it, this line aims to reduce the journey duration for the passengers between Beijing and Shenyang. Earlier, the distance between Beijing and Shenyang was covered in 4 hours through rail. But, with the construction of this line, the distance is now being covered in just 2 hours and 17 minutes. The construction of this line proved to be one of the vital inclusions of China’s economy, especially for the northeast region. Since the year 2018, more than 29 tests were performed here for deriving whether the track would be suitable for high-speed rail technologies.

TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 4: ,

Estimated budget: $22.5 billion Riyadh Metro, which is being constructed within the Saudi Capital City, is set for a partial opening in 2021. This partial opening schedule was pushed or delayed from its original schedule that was settled for 2019. The entire project was built upon $22.5 billion and consists of a total of 6 lines. The combined length of this line would be around 176 km, and it covers a total of 85 stations. The additional capacity to this project has been added with an intention to accommodate the growing population that is predicted to increase by around 2.5 million by the end of the next decade. Saudi Arabia proposes that, Alstom trains will run upon three different metro lines. The trains by Siemens will be running on another two routes. And, the Bombardier trains or rail vehicles will be serving on the remaining one lime of Riyadh Metro. It is considered the second of Saudi Arabia, after Metro that became operational in the year 2010.

Credit: Métro de Riyad © Avant Première TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 5: -Bandung high-speed railway, Indonesia

Estimated budget: $6.5 billion This project is Indonesia’s first high-speed railway line, the construction of which was slowed down due to the pandemic. By the end of the year 2020, the construction was completed with around 60% work. There is an expectation and prediction, that this project would be completed by the end of 2021. This line is a total of 142.3 km and will run from Jakarta, Capital of Indonesia, to Bandung, Province. The construction work for this line began back in 2016 in partner China who are funding $5.5 billion of the project. On completion of this line, the passenger services would be operated at a speed of 350km/hr. With this speed, the travel time will be significantly reduced. For instance, if a distance was being covered in 3 hours, high-speed trains commuting on these lines would take less than 40 minutes for the same distance. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 6: Boten–Vientiane railway, Laos

Estimated budget: $6 billion Boten-Vientiane Railway, Laos, is set to open in December, 2021. The entire line stretches 414km between Boten and Vientiane. Boten is a town situated on the Chinese border, whereas Vientiane is the capital of Laos. The construction of this electrified line began back in December 2016. The route will be serving a total of 32 stations with 167 bridges and 75 tunnels within the entire stretch. The trains will reach a top speed of 160 km/hr for the passenger services and will run at 120 km/hr for freight services. The project cost is around $6 billion, and China is the largest funding country for the associated arrangements of this project. The Boten-Vientiane railway line is considered another initiative of China to extend its wide belt of connectivity for better trade routes. There are some other plans within the pipeline for running a Trans-Asia railway that will connect Yunnan to Singapore, via Myanmar, Cambodia, , Vietnam and Malaysia. This Trans-Asia railway will run for around 5500 km to cover all of these destinations. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 7: HS2, UK

Estimated budget: £140+ billion The UK scheme to build a high speed line between London, Birmingham and Manchester has been surrounded by controversy. The project is split into two parts: the London - Birmingham section scheduled for 2026 and the Birmingham - Manchester expansion due in 2033. With the latest estimates suggesting a cost overrun of more than £22 billion and a delay of 7 years, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has launched an independent review of the project that could result in cancellation. Despite being a critic of the scheme in the past, Johnson has claimed that will not cancel the project even if the cost estimates break £100bn. He has voiced his commitment to improving infrastructure, claiming that the review is intended to identify waste and areas for improvement.

Manchester, . Credit: Fraser Cottrell. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 8: West, Canada

Estimated budget: $2.67 billion The Valley Line is a future 27 km, low-floor urban line in Edmonton, Alberta, currently under construction It will be part of the Edmonton LRT. It will run southeast to west from Mill Woods to Lewis Farms, crossing through downtown. The line will be constructed in phases, with phase 1 being the 13.1 km, 12-station portion between Mill Woods and 102 Street (Downtown) allowing passengers to connect with the Capital Line and Metro Line at Churchill station. Construction began on April 22, 2016, with completion of phase 1 set for 2021. The Government of Canada is providing approximately $948 million for the Valley Line West expansion, and the Government of Alberta has committed approximately $1.04 billion for the project. The expansion is projected to cost approximately $2.67 billion in total. Edmonton has selected Marigold Infrastructure Partners to build the western section of the Valley Line. Preparation work, such as the relocation of underground utilities and clearing of land along the route, has already begun. Construction of the expansion is scheduled to commence in 2021, and it is expected to open in 2026 Upon completion of the entire line, the Valley Line is expected to serve more than 100,000 commuters daily, nearly matching the current Capital Line and Metro Line in terms of capacity and ridership. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 9: Light Rail,

Estimated budget: $400 million line will witness the completion of its first phase within 2021. The first phase is of 16km that will connect from the city centre to TAYS ( Hospital) & . Phase two will connect the journey to & Lentavanniemi. Phase 2 is predicted to be completed by the end of 2025. The Artic that are provided by Skoda will be operating over the line to carry around 264 passengers. The project that is completing this year, was in the pipeline since 2001. The authorities of Tampere were planning out to introduce light rail into play since long back. But, the idea only got approved by the city council of Tampere in 2016. The entire project cost is recorded to be of 330 million Euros. But, the profitable outcome is also high with this amount of investment upon the light rail. It is expected that, the light rail line, when completed, will help generate a profit of around 10 million Euros every year. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 10: Extension, Massachusetts, USA

Estimated budget: $2.28 billion The Green Line Extension is one of the shortest rail projects amongst all others in this list. Even though the project is small, the distance to cost ratio is high. This light rail track project is of just 4.3 miles, but the cost of this project is around $2.28 billion. It is considered to be the North-West extension of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line. This extension heads to the Boston Suburbs of Medford and Somerville. Within its end destinations, this line will serve a total of seven stations. In 2015, with projected costs increased to $3.3 billion, the project was placed on hold. A revised plan, with more modest stations and other value engineering, was submitted in 2016 and approved in 2017. The main $1.08 billion design-build contract was issued in November 2017, with several optional items like platform canopies and a larger vehicle maintenance facility included. Construction began in 2018, with the old Lechmere station closed in May 2020. The new station and Union Square Branch are expected to open in October 2021, with all stations open by December 2021. On completion of this line, it is expected that there would be over 45,000 individual journeys every single day by the end of the next decade. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 11: Northeast Frontier Railway Electrification, India

The Northeast Frontier Railway has taken up a daunting task of electrifying more than 50 per cent of the total 6,242 km of railway lines. A total of 534 km of railway lines has already been electrified and an additional 2,631 km of railway lines will be electrified by the end of 2021. The Indian Railways is marching ahead on its bigger plan like of achieving 100% electrification and a net zero carbon emission network by 2030. The entire mainline of NFR has been segregated into different sections for speedy implementation of work. Sections from Raninagar Jalpaiguri to Sarupeta (259 track kms) are being done by RVNL. The rest portions are being implemented by CORE (Centre for Railway Electrification). The electrification work up to Guwahati is expected to be completed within the year. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 12: Milan ,

Estimated budget: $2.7 billion Construction of this metro line started in the year 2012 with a budget of $2.2 billion and is due to be fully completed by the end of 2023. But, the first section of the , a 15km line named ‘Blue Line’ is due to be operational within 2021. The Blue Line will be connecting Forlanini & Linate Airport and is being constructed by the consortium ATM-Webuild. The full line, after construction, will be connecting Lorenteggio Avenue, will pass through the south of the city centre and connect Sant’Ambrogio, San Cristoforo, San Baila and other such stations. The line is destined to be completely automated without any operating drivers. The stations will be upgraded as well with of 50m, as compared to the 110m on lines M1, M2 & M3. The automation would allow a train frequency of around 90 seconds. It means that these lines would enable people to transport 24,000 to 28,000 passengers every hour in each direction. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 13: Auckland City Rail Link, New Zealand

Estimated budget: $3.1 billion Auckland City Rail Link in New Zealand, is a new project, the construction of which commenced in the year 2018, and the estimated date of completion for the entire project is 2024. The stretch of this project is 3.4km, and the budget for the project is allocated as $3.1 billion. In addition to the construction of this City Rail Link, there is a tunnel boring project about to commence this year associated with this project. This project for the railway line is being funded by both Auckland Council and New Zealand Government. On completion, this line will start running from Britomart station to Mount Eden station, passing through Central Business District. This City Rail Link, on completion, will extend the existing commuter rail line for interchanging with the western rail line at the Mount Eden station. As of 2021, the project has seen a streamlined progress in construction, but the final completion is predicted to be in early 2024. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 14: Zhengzhou – Xiangyang – Wanzhou High-Speed Line, China

Estimated budget: $13.5 billion China is fast becoming a hub for new infrastructure oriented projects with lots planned for 2021. The construction work for the 818 km Zhengzhou – Xiangyang – Wanzhou High-Speed Line project began back in 2016 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The total length of this project is around 818 km, and the budget allocated for it is $US 13.5 billion. China is known for carrying out heavily funded projects to ensure the convenience of the citizens. This rail project, on completion, will connect Zhengzhou East station to Wanzhaou North. In between these end destinations, this rail line will serve 18 stations in total. The first 350.8 km section of this line, between Zhengzhou and Dengzhou, commenced to be operational back in August, 2019. But, the full line is to be enabled for operation by the end of 2021. China had also announced its plans for the high-speed railway line network back in August, 2019. The authorities said that they have plans to double the high-speed network line within China to up to 70,000km by the end of 2035. With the completion of this Zhengzhou – Xiangyang – Wanzhou High-Speed Line, the total network line length will be of 36,000km in all of China.

TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 15: Tel Aviv , Israel

Estimated budget: $3.1 billion The Tel Aviv project began back in 2011 and is set for completion almost a decade later in 2021. The length of this light rail project is 24 with a planned budget of $3.1 billion The Red Line will have a total of 34 stations. It will start at Petah Tikva’s Central Station, east of Tel Aviv and follow Jabotinsky Road westwards at street level. The underground section will include 10 stations, including an interchange with Israel Railways services at Tel Aviv Central Railway Station and the nearby 2000 Terminal. A maintenance depot, connected via a branch line and tunnel to the main section of the line, will be constructed in Kiryat Aryeh, across from the existing Kiryat Arye suburban railway station. The branch line will include two passenger stations, at Em HaMoshavot Road and an interchange station at the Kiryat Arye railway station. A planned southern extension will add 2.8 km into the city of Rishon LeZion and three intermediate stops and an inter-modal terminus which will serve as connection with Israel Railways’ Rishon LeZion Moshe Dayan Railway Station and the projected Green Line. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 16: Metro Line B,

Estimated budget: $1.3 Billion Rennes Metro Line B of France is a 14km long rail project with a budget of $1.3 billion. The construction of this rail project began back in 2014, and the rail line is to be completed by the end of 2021. This line, upon construction, will be connecting Cesson-Viasilva to Saint-Jaques-Galte. Within these two end-destinations, this rail line will support around 15 stations. Along with that, the Line B will also include two interchanges with the Line A of Rennes at Gares and Sainte-Anne. The project is divided into sectional constructions that include 8.6km of tunnel boring, 2.4km of viaduct and 2.4km of cut & cover tunnel. As per the plans, this rail line will be operable with around 19 Cityval train fleet, provided to France by Siemens. These trains have been engineered and offered to France railway authorities on behalf of a contract that was signed by Siemens in the year 2013. With this fleet, the trains running over this line will be able to serve or attend around 113,000 passengers every single day. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 17: Texas Central High-Speed Railway Line, USA

Estimated budget: $20 billion The Texas Central High-Speed Railway Line project is a massive turn around for US railway investment The project was in the pipeline for a long time, but the construction has finally commenced in 2021 with a prediction of completing it by 2026. The length of this project is around 390km with a budget of $20 billion. The construction is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2021, as the clearance for final Record of Decision (ROD) and Rule of Particular Applicability (RPA), was given in September, 2020, provided by FRA (Federal Railroad Administration). These two federal decisions were important for the project to commence the construction aspects because it establishes the approval of federal safety standards to allow operations and states the environmental clearance for select alignment. The construction project is being carried out by WeBuild of Italy and Lane Construction, US Subsidiary of WeBuild. These two construction firms will be working upon the design-build contract that was awarded to them in 2019. As this line resembles a high-speed track, the operational speed of trains would be 320km/hr with 25kV AC electrification. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 18: Salvador , Brazil

Estimated budget: $429 million Salvador Orange Line of Brazil is type project, the construction of which began back in 2020, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. It is a small monorail project of 19.2km with an allocated budget of $429.4 million. Even though the entire line is destined to complete in 2022, the first section is scheduled to open by the end of 2021. The Salvador Orange Line will connect the Commerce District to Sao Joao Island. On completion, this line is expected to serve around 172,000 passengers every day. The construction began in March, 2020 and is being taken care of by Skyrail Bahia Consortium, led by BYD. The Salvador Orange Line is one amongst the two that were planned for the city, to join the 4.1km, Sao Joaquim, to Acesso Norte Green Line alongside. Both these lines are scheduled to get the construction completed by the end of 2022. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 19: Mayan Train, Mexico

Estimated budget: $6 billion Mayan Train of Mexico is the mainline project that is of utmost importance for the country. The construction began back in 2020 with completion due in 2023. It is a huge project that stretches to 1452 km. The budget allocated for this project is $6 billion. The project was launched in June, 2020. The contracts were given for 4 projects that comprise 7 sections, along with the rehabilitation and renovation of existing rail infrastructure. It means that the Mayan train project is proposing to renovate the existing infrastructure along with the new constructions. This line will connect Izamal to Escarcega. The line will also be connecting Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Bacalar, Chichen Itza & Valladolid, in between the source and end destinations. This line is destined to serve a total of 17 stations. The budget for this project was fixed upon $3.4 billion. But, with the further planning and executions, the budget is now increased to around $8 billion. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 20: San Francisco Central Subway, USA

Estimated budget: $1.6 billion San Francisco Central Subway, is yet another popular US rail project that is destined to complete in the coming years. It is a light rail project that was first planned back in 2010, and the construction began in 2012. Originally, there were plans to get this line operational back in 2018, but now due to certain testing delays, the scheduling has been postponed to 2022. The Central Subway Line will be running from San Francisco to Chinatown. On this line, there are both grade stations as well as underground sections. The entire project is of 2.7 km stretch and is allocated with a budget of $1.6 billion. TOP 21 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF 2021

Project 21: Melbourne Airport Rail Link, Australia

Estimated budget: $7.9 billion Melbourne Airport Rail will take passengers from the airport to where they need to go via a rail service for the first time. Airport trains will run through the Metro Tunnel, providing passengers with a 10-minute turn-up-and go service from Melbourne Airport and a less than 30-minute journey into the CBD. Trains will run from Melbourne Airport through to Sunshine Station, then into the Metro Tunnel and the heart of the CBD, before continuing on to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines. New dedicated tracks will be constructed along the existing Albion-Jacana freight corridor between Sunshine and Airport West. The tracks will veer off the freight corridor crossing the M80 freeway and head towards the airport following Airport Drive, before arriving at a new premium train station at Melbourne Airport. Planning and development work is underway, with construction due to start in 2021/22. The target completion date is 2029. The Australian and Victorian governments have committed $5 billion each to deliver Melbourne Airport Rail. Book your product demonstration today

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