UNITED States Federal Transit Administrator Mr Peter Rogoff and North Carolina governor Mr Patrick McCrory attended a groundbreaking ceremony in Charlotte on July 18 to mark the start of construction on the city's light rail Lynx Blue Line extension.
BRATISLAVA Transport signed a €39m contract with Škoda Transportation on July 18 for a fleet of 15 low-floor 30T LRVs, which will enter service on the metre-gauge network in the Slovak capital in 2015.
EUROSTAR announced its first-half figures on July 18, which show sales revenues increased 7% year-on-year to £453m as passenger numbers grew 2% to 4.9 million.
UTRECHT Regional Council (BRU) has issued a tender notice for a contract to supply 27 low-floor LRVs for the 7.5km Uithof Line, which will link Utrecht Central station with the Uithof universary campus on the eastern side of the city.
THE Norwegian city of Bergen has awarded Stadler a contract worth more than €100m to supply and maintain eight additional Variobahn low-floor LRVs and maintain the existing fleet of 20 vehicles until 2026.
IN an effort to fill the void left by the abandonment of Brussels – Amsterdam Fyra services, Thalys is planning to introduce two additional weekday services to Amsterdam from October 7.
THE Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association (NIPRA) has released a business plan laying the groundwork for a regional passenger rail corridor linking Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago via Fort Wayne and Warsaw, Indiana.
THE government of Argentina has announced electrification and re-signalling work will begin next year on the 60km 1676mm-gauge commuter line from Buenos Aires Plaza Constitución to La Plata, the state capital of Buenos Aires province.
GERMAN Rail (DB) CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube and Saxony's state minister for economic affairs, labour, and transport Mr Sven Morlok signed an agreement on the electrification and upgrading of the 81km Leipzig – Bad Lausick – Chemnitz line on July 16 with the aim of putting Chemnitz back on the Inter-City network.
THE LAUNCH of construction on the extension of the Los Angeles Metrolink commuter rail network to Moreno Valley and Perris has moved a step closer after a local environmental group dropped its lawsuit against the $US 232.7m project.