If you have any additional information, please email me. 

November 2003

Darwin, Australia
A 25 km LRT is under consideration

Dubuque. Iowa
Plans for a light rail alternative are now being considered

Indianapolis, IN
A Federal study was announced that includes light rail.

Vitoria, Spain
An 8 km LRT has been approved.

August 2002

Reykjavik, Iceland
A 13.3 km light rail line is now under study

Tampere, Finland
A 15 km light rail line is planned

June 2002

Okinawa, Japan
A 13 km monorail is nearly complete. Service is expected to start in late 2003.

Yong-In, South Korea
An 18.8 km light rail line has been approved.

Dayton, OK
A heritage tramway is now in the argument stage. The system could evolve into full light rail - wink wink.

Clearwater, Florida
A monorail is scheduled to be built, linking the city center with the beach.

Montreal, Canada
A 12.9 km light rail line is in the preliminary design stages. Construction is expected to begin soon.

Colchester, UK
Dopplemayr may soon be building a line in this town.

Vigo, Spain

A 13.7 km light rail line is expected to begin construction in 2003.


March 2002

Panama City, Panama
A light rail line is in the beginning stages and is expected to be built by 2004.

Cairo
A light rail line is expected to be built.between a metro station and Tenth of Ramadan City

Den Haag
Trams will be soon be routed underground starting in 2004.

New York, NY
Preliminary Engineering has begin on a subway line from Astoria to La Guardia Airport.

Union County, NJ
A light rail line has been proposed.

Tampa, Florida
Funding will be sought for a 32 km light rail line.

Orange County, California
The OTCD board agreed to construct a 32 km light rail line between Santa Rosa and Irvine, CA.


January 2002

Union County, NJ
A light rail line has been proposed.

Tampa, Florida
Funding will be sought for a 32 km light rail line.

Orange County, California
The OTCD board agreed to construct a 32 km light rail line between Santa Rosa and Irvine, CA.

Harrisburg-Lancaster
A light rail interurban now seems imminent for the Harrisburg metro area

March 2001

Ho Chi Minh City
Plans for the subway system are being accelerated, with construction expected to begin soon.

September 2000

Athens
An urban rail line will be built from Athens airport. It is due to open in 2004.

Crete
Two tram routes are to be built: one from the city center to the airport, the second to the Knossos site.

Pusan, Korea
An automated metro is to be built to the city of Kimhae.

Chongqing
The Chinese city of Chongquing will build a 1.7 mile Aerobus monorail, to be completed in 2003.

Denver

Not really a tram or subway: A City Roamer "road train", which looks like a modern tram but is actually a bus, will be used as a free shuttle system throughout the city. The first "line" will begin in Broomfield in 2001.

Bogota, Columbia

A rail unstart: The metro project has been cancelled in favour of a highway expansion program.

Istanbul

The existing suburban systems on the Asian and Europen sides will be converted to a extensive metro system and will be connected by a tube under the Bosphorus. The construction will hopefully start mid 2001. The municipality has solved the financial difficulties for this project, they are at contractor selection phase.

August 2000

Dublin

A new metro for Dublin. (click on News)

Phoenix

A 64 mile light rail system has been approved. The started line will link Phoenix with Mesa.

Indianapolis

A people mover, a la Las Vegas style, will be built in the Methodist/ Undiana University Hospital campuses.

Vienna, Austria

A 7 station APM, built by Dopplemeyer, is under construction.

Beijing

Construction begun on Beijing's urban light rail line.

May 2000

Liberec

A tram system based on the Karlsruhe model is to be built. The first stage will be a conversion of the interurban Liberec – Jablonec tramway route. This line will be rebuilt to normal gauge between Liberec and Vratislavice.

Little Rock, Arkansas
A $9.6 million 1.9 mile streetcar is to be built. It will connect the Alltel Arena with the Statehouse Convention Center.

Lausanne, Switzerland
A rubber tired metro is now under construction. Alstom is to provide the vehicles.

Samsun, Turkey
Officials are considering a new light rail system.
 

January 2000

Beijing, China
In north Beijing, China work has started on a 40.8 km-long U-shaped light rail line of which 2.8 km will be in tunnel.

Cleveland

Parson Brinkerhoff will be conducting a study which may extend the current Shaker Heights rapid transit line from the Van Aiken terminal to Interstate 271, a distance of approximately 2 miles.

Texas

San Antonio voters will get their chance to give nods or nos to a proposed 55 mile street-running light rail system that already has the endorsement of the downtown business community.
 

December 1999

From Thomas Ullrich:

Hanover, Germany

The MPO of the greater region of Hanover has decided to start the planning of a 5.5 km long light rail extension to Altwarmbuechen, including 10 new stations. The route will connect developing business districts in the north
of Hanover with the existing light rail net. Construction is scheduled to begin in three years, taking about three years to complete.
 

San Francisco - BART has been awarded a federal grant for development of a 3.5 mile APM to link the BART Coliseum station with Oakland Airport.

August 1999

Isparta, Turkey
An 11.6km light rail line linking Ayazmana to Mehmet Tonge is to be built. Opening date is scheduled for the year 2000.

Budapest
Construction of metro Line 4 is to go ahead after all. The 7.5km initial section will extend from Etele tér to Keleti Pu, plus future extensions to Gazdagrét and Rákospalota.

Nanjing, China
Work has begun on the first line of the for this eastern Chinese city. The 16.8km Line 1 will run north-south across the city centre. Line 1 will have 13 stawtions and link Maigaoqiao, Xinjiekuo and Xiaohang, Eight stations and 10.2km of the route will be underground. A trial excavation at Sanshanjie began in 1992, where the first underground station is being built.  Completion of the first phase is eexpected to be late 2000.

New Delhi, India
Tenders are being taken for the 55.3 km Delhi Mass Rapid Transit metro network. Completion is projected for March of 2005.

Tel Aviv, Israel.
Preliminary design of yje 18 km first line between Petah Tikwa, Tel Aviv and Bat Yam has begun. . The route is being called a pre-metro light rail for conversion to heavy metro in the future. Dual-mode operation on Israel Railways tracks is also being investigated.

Karachi, Pakistan
Work on the 13.7 km light rail line has been postposted.

Milan, Italy
Palnning has begun on a 20 station fourth metro line linking Lorenteggio with Linate airport.  The completely underground 15 km "light metro" route will run from the southwest to the east of the city. Construction is scheduled to begin in one to two years, taking abouy 6 years to complete.

Dalian, Chain
Rather than abandoning it's tramway system, Dalian is now planning on adding 30 lm of new light rail lines starting as early as next year.

July 1999
The Ferrocemento-Recchi company has won the tender to project and build a tramway line in Sassari. The line will be about 6 km long and will join the hospital with the rail station and a crowded neighbourhood .

June 1999
San Francisco Chronicale article about the new BART extension to SFO Airport

May 1999
Thessaloniki, Greece will build a 9.4 km automated VAL LRT, consisting of 9 stations. Construction will begin this year, with revenue service expected to begin in 1999. Bombardier will supply the vehicles and operate the line.

April 1999
Toronto breaks ground on an 800 meter LRT link from the Harbourfront  Line to Exhibition Place.

March 1999
The following are from the December Issue of Rail Transit Online, a monthly email update on the latest transit news. For subscription information, contact Julian Wolinsky.

BIRMINGHAM – Alabama Ponders LRT
A consultant study has recommended four possible routes for a light rail transit system in Birmingham.  All would originate downtown and would serve either Center Point, Inverness, Hoover, or Bessemer.  City officials are looking to Washington for at least $87.5 million in federal funding, but local governments would have to contribute about $17 million.   A final decision reportedly is still a long way off.

CINCINNATI – LRT Accelerates
An $11.8 million contract for preliminary engineering on a light rail line in the Cincinnati region was awarded Dec. 10 to BRW-Hazelet & Erdal.  The firms will study a corridor paralleling Interstate 71 from 12th Street in Covington to Pfeiffer Road in Blue Ash.  Eventually the line could connect the regional airport, which is located across the Ohio River in northern Kentucky, with downtown Cincinnati and its suburbs.  Preliminary engineering is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2000

LOS ANGELES – Pasadena Progress
The 13.6-mile Los Angeles to Pasadena light rail line, which was scrapped by the MTA due to lack of funding, may have gotten a reprieve. The state legislature, fed up with the MTA’s bungling, created the Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority with the sole mission of completing the project.  A five-member joint powers authority consisting of representatives from the cities along the line governs the new agency, which came into existence Jan. 1.  The MTA has already sunk more
than $225 million into planning and construction, with about 12 percent of the latter having been completed.  The total cost has been variously estimated by the MTA as between $804 million and $856 million but a study commissioned by the city of Pasadena concluded that at least $100 million could be shaved off those figures.  But that won’t be enough.
Based on the amount of funding that will be available, including $258 million in state money and some sales tax revenue, at least $200 million will have to be sliced from the initial estimates.  There is an Apr. 1 deadline to complete a detailed financial plan but members of the new authority began the year in disarray, haggling over who should be appointed acting CEO among other key issues.  The MTA would operate the line using some of the 52 new Siemens LRVs now being delivered.  A plan
floated early last year to sell or lease some of the LRVs -- plus about 10 of 74 new Red Line subway cars now on order -- has been shelved now that the MTA has determined none are surplus to its needs.

LOUISVILLE – LRT Progresses
Consultants have been hired to begin preliminary engineering and an environmental impact report on a proposed light rail line in the Louisville, Kentucky area.  Schimpeler Inc., a local firm, and Seattle-based De Leuw, Cather & Co. will be paid $665,000 by the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) to look at a 13-mile route in the Interstate 65 corridor.  It would connect downtown with the University of Louisville, the fairgrounds and the airport, terminating at the Snyder Freeway.  The two firms will more precisely define the route and station locations and recommend possible funding scenarios.  Preliminary estimates place the cost at between $300 million and $450 million, about half of which would have to be picked up by the federal government.

TAMPA – Short Line Shuts Down
The privately owned, cable-hauled peoplemover that connected downtown Tampa with Harbour Island closed on Jan. 16, a victim of the area’s hard economic times.  The single-track elevated system cost just $7 million when it was inaugurated in June 1985 but within 10 years it needed more than $570,000 dollars in annual operating subsidy from business owners
on the island.  The fare was only 25 cents but in recent years ridership dropped as stores and restaurants on the island closed.  The city will tear down the half-mile concrete guideway at a cost of $1 million, the money coming from the owner of Harbour Island who was anxious to end the financial drain of running the tram.

January 1999

Amman, Jordan

Bratislava, Slovakia

Charleston, South Carolina

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dalian, China

Krakow

Jakarta

Tel Aviv, Israel

December 1998

Fortaleza, Brazil

Thesaloniki, Greece

The remainder of the system is to be constructed over the next 20 years. The star-shaped network of cross-city routes envisages branches from all major suburbs converging to give 90 sec headways on the core sections The eight lines are:
1 Pisgat Zeev -- Kiryat Menahem;
2 Neve Yaakov -- Malha;
3 Atarot -- Saladdin Street;
4 Ramot -- Malha;
5 Ramot -- Gillo;
6 Kiryat Menahem -- Gillo;
7 Kiryat Menahem -- Jaffa Gate;
8 Har Nof -- Mount Scopus.

Paris, France

Alicante, Spain

Valencia, Spain