TRENSURB, the metro operator in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, has taken delivery of the last of 15 four-car Metropolis EMUs being supplied by the FrotaPoa consortium of Alstom and CAF Brazil under a contract signed in 2012.

THE first of five ETR 452 Civity EMUs being supplied by CAF for the Bari suburban network was presented to Puglia regional councillor for mobility and transport Mr Giovanni Giannini, by the president of regional rail operator Ferrotramviaria Mrs Gloria Pasquini and by the company's general director Mr Massimo Nitti on December 19.

The saga of Danish State Railways' heavily-delayed AnsaldoBreda IC4 DMUs took another turn last month with the publication of an independent report on the measures required for full fleet deployment. Keith Barrow looks at the report's main findings.

THE Hungarian government has acquired a 64.9% stake in the carriage works at Dunakeszi near Budapest from Bombardier in a deal worth Forints 2.1bn ($US 7.8m).

GERMAN Rail's (DB) next-generation long-distance train the ICx made its first appearance on the German mainline network at the end of December, when the first ICx set was hauled from Bombardier's Henningsdorf plant near Berlin to Siemens' Wildenrath test centre in North Rhine Westphalia.

MPK Lodz signed a Zlotys 166m ($US 45.8m) contract with Pesa on December 30 for 22 low-floor LRVs, which will be used on the Polish city's 120km metre-gauge tram network.

NORFOLK Southern (NS) has released the first of 25 low-emissions GP33ECO heavy shunting locomotives from its Juniata Locomotive Shop at Altoona, Pennsylvania, for mainline testing.

CSR Qishyuan, China, has begun delivery of an order for 20 six-axle metre-gauge SDA3 diesel locomotives for State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

ISTANBUL Metropolitan Municipality has placed a Won 103.8bn ($US 93.3m) provisional order with Hyundai Rotem for the supply of 17 four-car metro trains that will boost capacity on Line M2 between Yenikapi and Haciosman.