The construction contract for the EUR133 million Lai Chi Kok Transfer Scheme, advertised at tunnelbuilder.com earlier this year, has been awarded to Leighton Asia. The project includes two 4.9 m-diameter storm water drainage tunnels with total length of 3.7 km between West Kowloon reclamation and Lai Chi Kok and Sham Shui Po districts, six intake shafts, a stilling basin, an outfall adit into Victoria Harbour, and 270 m of 3 m-diameter connection adits. Work starts immediately for completion in 2012. More from Quinnie Lee, tel +852 2823 1427, e-mail quinnie.lee@leightonasia.com 47/08..

Contract valued EUR414,000 awarded by Norwegian Railway Infrastructure Administration to Norconsult AS of Sandvika to provide technical and detailed plans of tunnels for the joint project E6 road and Dovrebanen, lot Minnesund-Kleverud, which includes one twin-tube 0.6 km-long road tunnel and 3.1 km of single railway tunnel over a 17 km-long alignment in Eidsvoll and Stange municipalities. ..

Contract for telecommunications installations for 6.5 km section of new double railway track in Baerum municipality for Lysaker-Sandvika, of which 5.5 km in tunnel, awarded by Jernbaneverket to T Connect AS of Manglerud, Oslo. http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=292852-2008 More from Olaf Bjerknes, tel +47 9943 4144, e-mail olbj@jbv.no 46/08. ..

Bemel Norge AS of Majorstuen, Oslo has been awarded the contract to supply ventilation fans to the 5.37 km-long Atlantic Ocean tunnel between Kristiansund and Bremnes on National Road 64 in the value EUR555,000...

Pre-feasibility study being undertaken by ILF Consulting Engineers for construction of single track railway line along the Karakorum highway between the end of the existing railway network in the south at Havelian and the border between Pakistan and China near the famous Khunjrab Pass in the north.

Prequalification underway by MTR for tender reference no 703 for West Island Line SHW to SYP tunnels value EUR30 million with a view to selective invitations to tender being issued in 4Q/2008 for contract award in 3Q/2009. Expressions of interest to Malcolm O’Neill, tel 3921 3383, e-mail moneill@mtr.com.hk Visit www.mtr.com.hk/eng/tenders/new_projects.html 45/08.

Prior information notice for construction works, value EUR24.86 million, for a undergroung cut-and-cover tunnel from Pabellon Moises Ruiz to Plaza de Barcelona, 1,1 km, with 0.8 m-thick base, 1.0 m-thick walls and 1.0 m-thick roof, on Carretera de Ronda, in Almeria. The works will include intermodal station.

Keymile's multi-service access node UMUX 1500, guarantees reliable  transmission of signals in the tunnel and to the operation centres in  the new Gotthard base tunnel, a Swiss railway tunnel currently under construction. After completion in 2017, the 2 x 57 km Gotthard base tunnel will be the longest in the world. UMUX is used here in the safety-critical "axle connection and evaluation" application. Visit www.alptransit.ch

Thales will fit around 200 axle counting points throughout the tunnel. The points transfer the current counter reading for axle counter evaluation to the technical centre, which in turn tells the signal box whether a train is in that section or not. The rail contacts (Sk30) are connected with electronic equipment (E-Es30H) that is then connected via ISDN interface to the UMUX 1500 access node. UMUX 1500 combines these ISDN interfaces and transmits the data via fibre optic cable, using SDH technology (in this case with STM-1, 155 mbps), to the places where axle counter evaluation is carried out.

Thanks to the double ring routing and the fact that the redundant path is taken via an alternative route, availabilities of more than 99.9999% are achieved. As a result, any hardware malfunctions that might occur in a unit can be intercepted and railway traffic is not brought to a halt. Permanent monitoring ensures that all components work properly. At the access network level, Keymile is a major partner of Alcatel-Lucent and Thales (both are shareholders in the Transtec Gotthard working group) and the company makes an important contribution to safety in the Gotthard base tunnel. Click ch/17. Visit www.transtec-gotthard.ch

Data communications in railway technology often go by the term "safety and automation". Understandably the demands placed are very high, because malfunctions could risk lives and cause enormous damage. Consequently, these systems are checked and approved by the national departments for transport concerned (which in Switzerland is the BAV).

Keymile is a leading manufacturer and provider of next-generation access systems with integrated central network management. Keymile's products range from IP-DSLAMs to multi-service access platforms and SHDSL-transmission solutions, to specific transmission systems for industrial ethernet applications. Visit www.keymile.com/en 28/08.