HITACHI announced on February 24 that it has reached a binding agreement with the board of Finmeccanica to acquire all of the shares in AnsaldoBreda and the Italian conglomerate's 40% stake in Ansaldo STS.
KRAKOW Transport Authority (MPK) began three months of trial operation with a Solaris Tramino low-floor LRV on February 23 to evaluate the performance of a vehicle equipped with a supercapacitor energy storage system on the city's standard-gauge tram network.
BOMBARDIER has handed over the first of 15 Traxx DE ME multi-engine diesel locomotives ordered last year by Germany-based financial joint venture Paribus-DIF Netz West Lokomotiven for use on regional passenger services in northern Germany.
QATAR Railways sent a conditional letter of acceptance on February 20 to its preferred bidder for a turnkey contract to supply electrical and mechanical systems including rolling stock for the first phase of the Doha metro network.
THE launch of two new rolling stock fleets for the Italian region of Tuscany was marked at Florence Santa Maria Novella station on February 13, when trains of both types were formally presented to regional president Mr Enrico Rossi by Mr Orazio Iacono, Trenitalia's national director of regional transport.
ALSTOM has inaugurated a new bogie overhaul facility at its Longsight depot in Manchester. The site is capable of overhauling 26 bogie sets every week and work has already started on the Virgin Pendolino fleet.
PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has confirmed it expects its new Vossloh Afro 4000 diesel locomotives to enter service on long-distance mainline passenger trains within the next two months.
RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has begun six months of trials with the first of 32 diesel locomotives being supplied by Sinara for the 1067mm-gauge network on the Pacific island of Sakhalin.
SPANISH rolling stock manufacturer Talgo has selected JP Morgan, Santander, and Nomura as banking advisors to evaluate the possibility of launching an initial public offering on the Madrid stock exchange, which is provisionally valued at €400-500m.
THE board of Ile-de-France transport authority Stif has approved a €1.5bn investment in new rolling stock for the Paris region, including 72 metro trains and 29 suburban EMUs, which will be 100%-funded by the authority.
