TRENITALIA announced on October 9 that it has selected Alstom as preferred bidder for a contract to supply 70 single-deck emus, each seating up to 280 passengers, with an option for 20 additional trains.
THE Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, has issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a design, build, finance, operate and maintain public-private partnership contract for the initial phase of the region's light rail project.
ITALY's Appulo Lucane Railway (FAL) has taken delivery of the first of 17 950mm-gauge dmus from Stadler, which will be used on regional services in the Bari area.
CONSTRUCTION of the first phase of the ambitious Grand Paris express metro network has moved a step closer after the planned 5.8km extension of Line 14 from St Lazare to Mairie de St Ouen was granted public utility status.
QR NATIONAL has awarded the Aspect3 Alliance, a joint venture of Invensys Rail and QR National, a $A 37.5m ($US 38.5m) turnkey signalling contract for part of the initial phase of the Wiggins Island Rail Project, which will significantly increase coal capacity on the central Queensland heavy-haul network.
THE United States' national passenger operator Amtrak carried more than 31.2 million passengers in the financial year ending September 30, the highest annual ridership total in its 41-year history and the ninth ridership record in 10 years.
HITACHI announced on October 10 it has established a European rail research centre to support the expansion of its rail systems business in Europe.
UNION Pacific (UP) has taken complete ownership of an important north-south railway though Oklahoma, three decades after state officials saved it from closure.
SLOVAKIA's Transport Minister Mr Ján Počiatek announced on October 8 that a €420m project to build a north-south rail link under the centre of Bratislava will be delayed until after 2014.
TRIAL operation began on October 8 on the 921km high-speed line linking Harbin in northeastern China with Changchun, Shenyang and Dalian on the Bohai Straits. Commercial operation is expected to start at the end of the year.