GREATER Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has confirmed the appointment of Transdev Wellington as the new operator of the Metlink suburban network in New Zealand's second-largest city.

TRENITALIA has launched a tender for a framework agreement to purchase up to 500 electric and diesel trains worth around €4.5bn.

BRITAIN's National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has urged the government to bolster support for development the Crossrail 2 link across London, describing the northeast - southwest line as a "priority" for the city.

THE first of six Newag type 39WE EMUs for Warsaw Commuter Railway (WKD) is undergoing dynamic tests at the Polish Railway Research Institute test track at Żmigród ahead of delivery to the capital at the end of next month.

SOUTH Africa's minister of transport, Ms Dipuo Peters, was among the guests to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Rand 928m ($US 59.4m) railway vehicle manufacturing plant and maintenance facility at Dunnottar, 50km east of Johannesburg, on March 4.

METROLINX, the regional transport authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, has received a prototype locomotive from Wabtec subsidiary MotviePower, which the supplier says is the first North American commuter locomotive to meet Tier 4 emissions standards.

HEATHROW Express, the operator of direct services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport, has withdrawn its entire fleet of 14 four and five car class 332 EMUs after a structural defect was found on the underside of several cars during routine inspections earlier this week.

THE Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for the German state of Baden-Württemberg and the state's public transport authority NVBW have published a tender in the Official Journal of the European Union for regional train operations on the Bad Krozingen - Münstertal branch line in the Black Forest.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has received the second of 600 Alstom X'Trapolis Mega six-car commuter EMUs for testing. The first arrived in December 2015.