Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi, Sound Transit, EllisDon

Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi, a Turkish construction company, has secured a $1.92bn contract from Reli Assets Holding Company (RAHCO), a Tanzanian state-run railway firm, to build a 422km high-speed electric railway line in Tanzania.

Yapi Merkezi will provide design and construction of the railway line, as well as replace the existing narrow-gauge line between Morogoro and Makutupora with a new standard-gauge railway, as part of the contract.

US-based transit agency Sound Transit has agreed to provide $285.9m for conducting preliminary engineering on the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions.

Simultaneously, Sound Transit has awarded HNTB a contract worth $24.4m to provide development services, including planning, engineering, operational, and environmental and community outreach technical services under the first phase of the extensions.

EllisDon has won a contract worth C$106m ($84m) from The City of Ottawa as part of the Rideau Transit Group Partnership (RTG).

OLRT Constructors Group, including EllisDon, Dragados, and SNC-Lavalin will provide design and construction for the expansion of the Belfast Yard Maintenance and Storage Facility (MSF).

"US-based transit agency Sound Transit has agreed to provide $285.9m for conducting preliminary engineering on the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions."

The works will be undertaken as part of the expansion project and include construction of three new maintenance bays, a larger control room, and replacement of the existing earth berm with a noise mitigating wall.

The MSF will operate on Stage 2 of Confederation Line and have the capacity to accommodate and maintain 72 light rail vehicles (LRVs), upon completion of construction by the end of 2018.

PORR has been awarded a contract worth €97m ($114m) by PKP PLK to modernise the E30 railway line.

As part of the contract, PORR will provide design, planning and construction on the Kedzierzyn Kozle-Opole Zachodnie network in Poland.

It will also replace 91km of track superstructure, including renovation of nine bridges, five viaducts, three underpasses, 32 passageways, 22 level crossings and 112 sets of curve points. Furthermore, it will upgrade 15 signal boxes.

The modernisation will increase the maximum permissible speed on the line to 160km/h from the existing range of 60km/h and 100km/h, as well as enhance passenger and freight transport between Kedzierzyn Kozle and Opole.