SWAZILAND Railway - one of Africa's smallest state-owned rail networks - celebrated its 50th birthday on Friday by finally getting its own locomotives and wagons.

OSTRAVA Public Transport (DPO), Czech Republic, which operates a 15-route 65km standard-gauge tram network, is inviting tenders for the supply of wheelchair-accessible trams.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has received two 2ES5 dual-unit electric freight locomotives from Transmashholding subsidiary Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant, the first part of an order for 200 locomotives that will be delivered up to 2020.

THE first of 10 new coaches ordered by Czech open-access operator RegioJet from Astra Vagoane Calaroti, Romania, is currently undergoing testing between Prague and Žilina, Slovakia.

INNSBRUCK Transport (IVB) has issued an international tender for 20 new 28m bi-directional LRVs for its metre-gauge network.

ALSTOM's new Italian fleet monitoring centre at Sesto San Giovanni in Milan was officially opened on September 30 by Lombardy regional councillor for infrastructure and transport Mr Alberto Cavalli and Alstom Ferroviaria CEO Mr Louis Bertina.

SINGAPORE Land Transport Authority and metro operator SMRT Corporation have announced plans to procure additional trains for North-South and East-West lines (NSEWL) by the end of the decade as part of project to boost capacity on these lines.

CALIFORNIA High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) issued a request for expressions of interest on October 2 for a contract to supply the train fleet and rolling stock maintenance facilities for the first phase of the state's high-speed network.

HZ Passenger, Croatia's sole passenger operator, is modernising its operations in preparation for the opening of the domestic market to competition in 2019, as CEO Dražen Ratković explains to Marco Chiandoni.

HAMBURGER Hochbahn published a tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union on September 30 for a contract to supply between 40 and 80 new trains for Hamburg's U-Bahn network.