CALIFORNIA’s Orange County Transportation Authority (Octa) has selected Siemens as preferred bidder for a contract to supply eight S70 low-floor LRVs for the OC Streetcar project, construction of which is expected to begin later this year.

SBB Cargo is set to trial Voith’s CargoFlex Type Scharfenberg automatic freight coupling on five wagons in mixed service beginning in January 2019.

RANDON Implementos, Brazil, inaugurated a new road trailer and railway wagon production facility at Araraquara in the state of São Paulo on March 28.

HUNGARY’s national passenger operator MÁV-Start has initiated a project to build a further 70 IC+ long-distance coaches at its Szolnok workshops.

A study into the potential introduction of hydrogen fuel cell trains as an alternative to electrification of part of Toronto’s Go Transit commuter rail network recommends further development of the concept, as
David Briginshaw and Keith Barrow explain.

ALSTOM has announced orders for 25 140km/h two-car Coradia Lint regional DMUs with operators in southern Germany in deals worth a combined €116m.

BOMBARDIER has reached an agreement with its trade unions in Germany over the proposed restructuring of the company's activities, with no factory closures planned, although the role of several will change.

STADLER Pankow has outshopped the first of 45 Flirt 3 EMUs which will be used by Go-Ahead Transport Germany on regional services in the state of Baden-Württemberg from next year.

TRANSPORT for London has placed an order with Bombardier for an additional five nine-car class 345 Aventra EMUs for use on London’s Elizabeth Line, which will take the total fleet for the new east-west service to 70 trains ahead of full opening in December 2019.

MITSUI Rail Capital Europe (MRCE) and Siemens have reached an agreement to form a joint venture company, Locomotive Workshop Rotterdam (LWR), for the service and maintenance of locomotives.