GE Transportation Africa president and CEO Mr Thomas Konditi and Mr Hippy Tijvikua, acting CEO of Namibia's national railway TransNamib signed a $US 22.7m contract in Windhoek on September 11 for six 1067mm-gauge C23EMP diesel locomotives.

ALSTOM and GE Transportation have emerged as lowest-price bidders for contracts with a combined value of around Rs 23bn ($US 348m) to establish two new locomotive assembly plants in the Indian state of Bihar.

THE first of 10 1520mm-gauge TE33A diesel locomotives ordered by Azerbaijan Railways (ADY) from JSC Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ), Kazakhstan, was officially handed over to ADY chairman Mr Javid Gurbanov at a ceremony in Baku on August 3.

BRAZIL's National Bank for Social and Economic Development (BNDES) has announced that it will provide loans totalling Reais 70.5m ($US 21.9m) to finance 19 diesel locomotives ordered by freight operators VLI and Rumo Logistics from GE Transportation.

A TE33A locomotive built by JSC Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ), Kazakhstan, is undergoing trials with Polish operator PKP LHS on its 394km 1520mm-gauge line which links a steelworks near Katowice with the Ukrainian border.

ALL Aboard Florida, the inter-city passenger subsidiary of Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) has selected GE Transportation to supply signalling, level crossings, and related Positive Train Control (PTC) equipment as part of its project to launch inter-city passenger services on the 375km Miami – Orlando corridor.

GE Transportation announced on April 9 that it has completed the first production test of its new Evolution Series diesel engine, which is compliant with the latest US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 4 emissions standards.

THE chairman of Australian mining company Hancock Prospecting Mrs Gina Rhinehart marked the delivery of the locomotive fleet for the new Roy Hill heavy-haul railway in Western Australia's Pilbara region on March 23, when she named the first unit Ginny in a ceremony at Port Hedland.

GE Transportation Brazil announced on October 9 that it has received the first order for its new metre-gauge ES43BBi Evolution diesel locomotive, which has been developed specifically for the Brazilian market.

INDONESIAN Railways (PT KAI) has placed an order with GE for 50 additional class CC206 diesel locomotives, which will be used on passenger and freight services on the 1067mm-gauge networks in Java and Sumatra.