HYUNDAI Rotem announced on January 22 that it has been awarded a Won 530bn ($US 440.2m) turnkey contract by Universal LRT Corporation, Philippines, to supply 108 metro cars together with signalling, communications, and power supplies for Manila metro Line MRT-7.

SOUND Transit launched passenger operations on the first phase of Seattle's First Hill Streetcar on January 23, with two days of free travel on the 4km line from Broadway & Denny to Occidental Mall.

DEDICATED Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) has awarded a consortium of Larson & Toubro, India, and Sojitz Corporation, Japan, a Rs 12.13bn ($US 179m) design-build contract to carry out electrification works on a 422km section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor between Vadodara in Gujrat and Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai.

UNION Pacific (UP), United States, has reported an 8% fall in net income from $US 5.18bn in 2014 to $US 4.77bn last year due to a significant drop in freight traffic and income.

ALMOST two years after it opened and 10years after the start of construction, Budapest metro Line 4 finally received authorisation for automatic operation on January 6.

SOUTHERN California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) has released the first images of the Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) F125 locomotive, which will be compliant with the latest US EPA Tier 4 emissions standards.

The final breakthrough of the western bore of Switzerland's 15.4km Ceneri base tunnel was achieved at noon on January 21, with a deviation of only 2cm horizontally and 1cm vertically.

INDONESIA's president Mr Joko Widodo attended a groundbreaking ceremony in the west Javan town of Walini on January 21 to mark the start of construction of the country's first high-speed railway linking Jakarta with Bandung.