HAMBURG celebrated the opening of the latest addition to its U-Bahn network on November 28 with a week of free rides on Line U4 prior to the launch of commercial operations on December 9.
CHINA's National Development and Reform Commission has approved plans for new metro lines in the cities of Nanchang and Fuzhou at a total cost of more than Yuan 30bn ($US 4.8bn).
SAN FRANCISCO Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) has launched a review of system operations with a view towards introducing limited-stop services as well as the splitting and joining of trains on certain routes.
THE Chinese city of Hangzhou launched commercial operations on its first metro line on November 24, when the governor of Zhejiang province Mr Xia Baolong officially inaugurated the 48km Line 1 in a ceremony at Wulin Square station.
SHANGHAI Shentong Metro Group has awarded Alstom and its local joint venture Shanghai Alstom Transport Electrical Equipment (Satee) a €37m contract to supply new traction equipment for trains operating on Shanghai Metro lines 3 and 4. The work is due to be completed by 2014.
A GROUNDBREAKING ceremony was held in Sofia on November 21 to mark the start of construction on the eastern extension of metro Line 1 from Tsarigradsko Shose to Sofia Airport Terminal 2.
ROTTERDAM Electric Tram (RET) has sold 44 redundant type T metro sets built by Düwag in 1980-84 to the Turkish city of Bursa, where they will be used on the growing Bursaray light metro network.
VIA Quatro, the PPP concessionaire responsible for building and operating São Paulo's Metro Line 4, has awarded a €40m contract to a consortium of Alstom and ThyssenKrupp for infrastructure works on the second phase of the project.
ILE-DE-FRANCE Transport Authority (Stif) and Paris Transport Authority (RATP) have placed a €127m contract with Alstom for 14 MP05 rubber-tyred metro trains for Line 14, a fully-automated line which is being extended 5.8km north from St Lazare to Marie de Saint-Ouen.
TRENSURB, the metro operator in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, has selected FrotaPoa, a consortium of CAF and Alstom, as its preferred bidder for a contract to supply 15 four-car emus.