CLEARANCE testing for the 10.6km second phase of Los Angeles Expo Metro Line Construction Authority's Expo Line light rail project began April 6, when an LRV operating under its own power ran west from Culver City and across the new bridge over Venice Boulevard.

PASSENGER traffic on Ireland's railways continued to recover in the first quarter of this year according to figures released by Irish Rail (IE) on April 9, which show ridership in the first three months of 2015 increased by 3.8% compared with the same period last year.

TRANSAMO, acting as an agent for Ile-de-France Transport Authority (Stif), has issued a call for tender for the supply of LRV fleets for the new light rail lines T9 and T10 in southern Paris. Closing date for bids is May 4.

TRENITALIA has placed a €98m order with AnsaldoBreda for 70 additional Vivalto double-deck coaches, which will be used on regional services in Liguria, Veneto, and Lazio.

SHANGHAI Songjiang Tramway Investment and Operation Company has awarded a joint venture of Alstom and Shanghai Rail Traffic Equipment Development Company (Satco) a €72m contract to supply 30 low-floor LRVs for the first phase of the Songjiang tram network.

THE government of Luxembourg has given Luxembourg Railways (CFL) the go-ahead to order 11 additional Kiss double-deck EMUs from Stadler.

MZKT, the municipal public transport operator in the Polish city of Toruń, has awarded Pesa Bydgoszcz a Zlotys 37.8m ($US 10.2m) contract to supply five bi-directional Swing low-floor LRVs for the city's metre-gauge tram network.

CHINA Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group (CRSSD) is conducting a preliminary study of a planned 1754km high-speed line in India linking Delhi, Bhopal, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Chennai which it hopes to complete by August.

THE merger between China's two largest train builders, CNR and CSR, has been approved by China's Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, and according to Xinhua the process could be completed by June.

THE prime minister of the Czech Republic Mr Bohuslav Sobotka and the mayor of Prague Mrs Adriana Krnáčová officially opened the latest addition to Prague's metro network on April 6, when they took an inaugural trip on the 6.1km western extension of Line A from Dejvická to Nemocnice Motol.