THE states of California, Illinois and Maryland have placed orders for 34 Siemens Charger diesel-electric locomotives to boost passenger services in their states under an option included in a framework contract for 222 units signed in 2014.

LEASING company Railpool has placed a €75m order with Bombardier for 18 Traxx locomotives comprising 13 Multi-System units and five ac Last Mile locomotives which will be deployed in Scandinavia.

CAMRAIL, the concessionaire operating 517km of Cameroon's 1104km metre-gauge network, has unveiled nine new GPR 3000 locomotives it has acquired as part of a $US 383m modernisation programme.

THE executive board of Vossloh signed a contract with Stadler Rail on November 4 for the sale of its Rail Vehicles business unit for €48m in cash.

The Fortescue Railway operates some of the longest and heaviest trains in the world, and in the seven years since it began hauling iron-ore across the deserts of the Pilbara region, it continues to push the technical boundaries of heavy-haul. Keith Barrow reports from Western Australia on the latest developments in Fortescue's unrelenting quest for greater efficiency and higher capacity.

THE first of two Alstom H3 hybrid locomotives ordered by Audi for shunting operations at its Ingolstadt automotive plant in Bavaria entered service on October 30.

VOSSLOH confirmed on October 29 that it is close to reaching an agreement on the disposal of its Vossloh Rail Vehicles business unit and announced a 6% increase in group sales in the first nine months of 2015.

INDONESIAN Railways (PT KAI) signed a letter of intent with GE Transportation on October 26 for a multi-year maintenance service agreement covering 50 1067mm-gauge CC206 diesel-electric locomotives ordered by PT KAI last year for use on passenger and freight trains in Java and Sumatra.

BOMBARDIER confirmed on October 20 that it has signed a Shekels 1bn ($US 262m) contract with Israel Railways (IR) to supply 62 four-axle Traxx ac electric locomotives with an option for 32 additional units.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has launched an international tender for a contract to supply up to 200 electric freight locomotives.