THE extension of the Los Angeles light rail network to Montclair moved a step closer to construction on September 28, when the board of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority approved draft advanced conceptual engineering documents for the 19.8km line from Azusa.

CANADA’s export credit agency, Export Development Canada (EDC), has agreed to provide Angola with a $US 429.5m loan to finance the purchase of 100 locomotives from General Electric (GE), according to an authorisation granted by presidential order.

BALFOUR Beatty has purchased Omnicom Engineering, a British company specialising in on-board video and laser surveying, inspection and monitoring systems, for an undisclosed sum.

SOCIÉTÉ du Grand Paris (SGP), the public company managing planning and construction of the €25bn Grand Paris orbital express metro network, has awarded two contracts with a total value of €414m for civil works on Line 15 South.

CHENNAI International Airport joined the Indian city’s metro network on September 21, with the inauguration of the 8.6km second phase of Line 1 (Blue Line) from Little Mount.

BRITISH design agency PriestmanGoode has unveiled two train seating concepts which seek to maximise capacity and comfort for passengers on services which frequently suffer from overcrowding.

EUROTUNNEL inaugurated its new GSM-R network for the Channel Tunnel on September 29 following the completion of a €48m, six-year project.

BRITAIN’s Department for Transport (DfT) announced on September 29 that Arriva Cross Country has secured a three-year direct award contract to continue operating the Cross Country franchise from October 2016 until October 2019.

ITALIAN State Railways (FS) plans to invest €94bn to modernise the railway and to double its turnover during the next 10 years according to its 2017-2026 strategic business plan which was unveiled in Rome on September 28.