IRJ at UITP 60th World Congress, Geneva: A newly-completed full-size mock-up of the forthcoming type 1K narrow-profile U-Bahn train for Berlin Transport (BVG) is the centrepiece of the Stadler stand at this week's UITP World Congress.

A ceremony was held in Yekaterinburg on May 25 to mark the start of production on the Russian build of 1200 "Lastochka" or Swallow emu cars for Russian Railways (RZD). Siemens and Sinara are building the trains under a €2 bn contract won in 2011.

IRJ at UITP 60th World Congress Geneva: Alstom has unveiled its new simplified CBTC called Urbalis Fluence which is designed to reduce the amount of lineside equipment by 20% by transferring the interlocking functions to the train. The system has been under development since 2010.

TRANSLINK Northern Ireland Railways is carrying out a trial with Irish Rail's Plasser & Theurer RM-90-IR ballast cleaner on the Newry – Poyntzpass section of the Belfast – Dublin line.

EDMONTON Transit has awarded Axion International Holdings, United States, a contract to supply its Ecotrax 100% recycled composite sleepers for use on the city's light rail network.

THE first of 18 CAF Urbos low-floor LRVs ordered by Debrecen public transport operator DKV in 2011 arrived in the Hungarian city on May 22.

KIRUNA Wagon, Sweden, has secured its first export order with the signing of a contract on May 23 for 40 bogie hoppers for Norwegian mining company Raner Gruber.

DESPITE another difficult year for Italy's economy, Italian State Railways (FS) improved its financial performance for the fifth consecutive year in 2012, with Ebitda rising 7.6% to exceed €1.9bn for the first time and net profits increasing 33.7% to €381m.

THE LATEST addition to Manchester's rapidly-expanding Metrolink light rail network welcomed its first passengers on May 23, with the opening of the 2.8km extension of the South Manchester Line from St Werburgh's Road to East Didsbury.

WASHINGTON Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has placed a $US 184m order with Kawasaki Heavy Industries for 100 additional series 7000 metro cars, which will replace unreliable Breda series 4000 vehicles supplied in the 1990s.