Keith Barrow

THE city of Kermanshah in western Iran joined the national railway network on March 20, when the country’s president Dr Hassan Rouhani inaugurated the 110km line from Firuzan.

VÄSTTRAFIK, the public transport authority for the Swedish county of Västra Götaland, announced on March 23 that it has selected Bombardier Transportation Sweden for an SKr 3.8bn ($US 460m) contract to supply 40 200km/h regional EMUs.

TRENITALIA has exercised four options with Alstom worth a total of around €330m for 54 additional Pop regional EMUs.

THE mayor of Manchester Mr Andy Burnham confirmed on March 23 that £83m will be spent on the acquisition of additional trams for the Metrolink light rail network as part of the city’s Congestion Deal, which also includes a £160m investment in walking and cycling infrastructure.

FRANCE’s minister of economy and finance Mr Bruno Le Maire confirmed on March 22 that French National Railways (SNCF) will place an order for 100 next-generation TGVs with Alstom within the next three months.

THELLO, the French subsidiary of Trenitalia, has announced plans to launch high-speed services in France in direct competition with French National Railways (SNCF).

GREENRAIL, an Italian company specialising in the production of railway sleepers using recycled materials, has signed a collaboration agreement with Indra, Spain, to jointly develop smart sleepers capable of collecting, processing and transmitting real-time data on the status of infrastructure and rolling stock.

HANNOVER transport authority Üstra has placed a €19.4m order with a consortium of Kiepe Electrical, Alstom and HeiterBlick for seven additional TW3000 high-floor LRVs, which will take its fleet of these vehicles to 146.

THE first 16-car CR400BF-A Fuxing high-speed train for China Railway Corporation (CRC) has been delivered to China Academy of Railway Sciences in Beijing for type testing.