Metro systems are vital circulatory systems for moving large numbers of residents, commuters and tourists around large cities. Metros are mass-transit systems that are generally heavy rail lines that operate on their own rights-of-way, whether underground, at grade or on elevated viaducts. They are distinct from light-rail and commuter rail networks.According to the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), the world's 148 metro systems carry, every day, more than 150 million passengers on 540 lines over 11,000 kilometers to and from 9,000 stations.Since the earliest metro systems were built more than 100 years ago, there have been many advances in
Map by Jeffrey Cox/ENR Rail Baltica will extend European standard gauge through the Baltic states. Related Links: For Panamax Port Expansions, The Freight Wait is Almost Over Saudi Arabia Upgrading Rail Passenger and Freight Service Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are aiming to take their railway destinies more firmly in hand through Rail Baltica, a multinational effort to improve freight rail connectivity between Central and Northern Europe. Running from the port of Tallinn, Estonia, south through Latvia and Lithuania, the high-speed, standard-gauge line will connect with Warsaw, Poland, and ultimately, Berlin.Construction of Baltica 1, the first 115-kilometer segment between the Polish-Lithuania
Photo Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps The Tarbela Dam in Pakistan quadrupled in cost by the time it was completed in 1984. Related Links: Should We Build More Large Dams? The Actual Costs of Hydropower Megaproject Development Megaprojects Need More Study Up Front to Avoid Cost Overruns "Multiyear Jobs, Even Small Ones, Are Biggest Risk for Overruns" Large dam projects make bad investments, according to a new global study by a team from Oxford University, England. Three-quarters of the projects analyzed by researchers experienced cost overruns, with the average increase reported as 96% higher in real terms than the figure cited
Hydropower produces 16% of the world’s electricity and plays a strong role in satisfying the national energy needs of certain countries. Paraguay produces all of its electricity from hydropower, while exporting most of its excess supply to neighboring Brazil and Argentina. Albania, Bhutan and Lesotho also depend exclusively on hydroelectricity. Norway produces more than 98% of its electricity from hydropower, Brazil draws upon it for 85%, Iceland for 80%, Venezuela for 69%, Colombia for 65% and Canada for 61%. Austria (60%), Switzerland (56%) and New Zealand (53%) are other countries that generate the majority of their electricity from hydro sources.
Related Links: Busan-Geoje Link Longest Immersed Tube Tunnel Planned Immersed-tube tunnels are rare birds. Only a handful are under construction in the world each year. They consist of large tubes, constructed in sections often more than 100 meters in length, which are floated into position in a waterway, sunk into position, and joined with watertight seals. They are always placed in a trench on the bottom of the river or bay. They are constructed of steel or reinforced concrete. [Slideshow: The 10 Longest Immersed-Tube Tunnels] “While bridges are generally cheaper to build, immersed-tube tunnels are usually located at sites where
ENR File Photo McGrath (right) chats with a field engineer at a California dam project site in 1966. Related Links: Obituary for David McGrath in The Newark Star Ledger David J. "Dave" McGrath, who served as the publisher of ENR for 23 years and was one of the first American business-publishing executives to link to the China marketplace, died on Sept. 26 in Palm City, Fla. He was 86.McGrath, ENR publisher from 1965 until 1988, was also a McGraw-Hill Cos. senior vice president. Working for the firm for 38 years, McGrath began his company career in advertising sales and later
Related Links: Engineering News-Record Construction Economics Whenever anything or anyone turns 100, it's a big deal. With a base year of 1913, ENR's cost indexes have joined that category after a century of measuring construction cost fluctuations and reflecting the industry's most important trends. The use of the cost indexes has grown almost as dramatically as the indexes themselves.They captured, for example, the explosion in union wages that caused costs to jump in the 1970s, and they tracked the record hike in steel prices and its effects on overall construction costs in 2004.Over the years, ENR has labored to ensure
Related Links: ENR 2013 Third Quarterly Cost Report (subscription required) ENR Confidence Index Suffers a Small Drop A Hundred Years of ENR Cost Indexes Elsie Eaves joined ENR in 1926, five years after the magazine introduced its Construction Cost Index, but she soon made them her own. "Elsie Eaves was the one who made ENR's cost indexes the industry standard," says Ken Humphreys, the retired executive director of the American Association of Cost Engineers, of which Eaves was a founding member, in 1956. She was one of the first women to become a civil engineer and played a prominent role