ŠKODA Transportation's newest LRV, the 26T, began testing in Pilsen, Czech Republic, on May 15 ahead of delivery of the first two vehicles to the northern Hungarian city of Miskolc in July.
SOUTHERN California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) has become the first US operator to place an order for diesels meeting the latest US EPA Tier 4 emissions standards, after awarding Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) a contract to supply 20 F125 Spirit Locomotives.
ŠKODA Transportation has agreed a 10-year technology licensing contract with CSR Qingdao Sifang to produce up to 400 ForCity (15T) low-floor LRV cars for the Chinese market.
THE saga surrounding Fyra cross-border services between the Netherlands and Belgium took another twist on May 31, when Belgian National Railways (SNCB) announced it had cancelled its order for V250 high-speed trains with AnsaldoBreda.
MTR Shenzhen, the operator of Shenzhen Metro Line 4, has awarded Nanjing SR Puzhen Rail Transport (NPRT) a Yuan 420m ($US 67.74m) contract to supply 56 metro cars which will be delivered in 2013-14.
ALSTOM and Transmashholding (TMH) signed an agreement with Russian Railways (RZD) at the 1520 Strategic Partnership forum in Sochi on May 30 to develop a new design of dual-voltage electric locomotive.
PRETORIA-based RRL Grindrod has sold two and leased four ex-Queensland Rail (QR) General Electric type C22-MMi locomotives to Democratic Republic of Congo National Railways (SNCC).
A ceremony was held in Yekaterinburg on May 25 to mark the start of production on the Russian build of 1200 "Lastochka" or Swallow emu cars for Russian Railways (RZD). Siemens and Sinara are building the trains under a €2 bn contract won in 2011.
IRJ at UITP 60th World Congress Geneva: Alstom has unveiled its new simplified CBTC called Urbalis Fluence which is designed to reduce the amount of lineside equipment by 20% by transferring the interlocking functions to the train. The system has been under development since 2010.
KIRUNA Wagon, Sweden, has secured its first export order with the signing of a contract on May 23 for 40 bogie hoppers for Norwegian mining company Raner Gruber.