A new fleet of CRRC Changchun EMUs entered service on the Kuala Lumpur airport rail link on March 13, when Malaysia’s transport minister Mr Liow Tiong Lai officially launched the trains with an inaugural cab ride from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Klia) to Salak Tinggi.

SILESIAN Tramways (TS), Poland, has selected Pesa as preferred bidder for a contract to supply up to 40 LRVs.

NORWAY’s ERTMS programme reached an important milestone on March 14, when the board of infrastructure manager Bane Nor voted to award contracts to Siemens and Alstom for the rollout of ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 across most of the 4114km national network by 2034.

BRITAIN’s Department for Transport (DfT) has invited promotors and investors to come forward with financially-credible projects to build new lines or enhance the rail network, starting with a new southern rail link to London Heathrow Airport.

SPAIN’s minister of development, Mr Iñigo de la Serna, has announced an investment of €660.6m to increase the capacity of Madrid Puerta de Atocha station and alter the track layout at Charmatín station.

ALGERIA’s minister of public works and transport, Mr Abdelghani Zaalane, inaugurated the first light rail line in the city of Ouargla on March 20.

INDIAN Railways (IR) has received five bids from international suppliers for a contract worth around Rs 50bn ($US 800m) to supply 200 6.7MW electric locomotives for the 1534km Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

THE president of the Italian autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia Mrs Debora Serracchiani and deputy regional councillor for transport and mobility Mrs Maria Grazia Santoro attended the inauguration of a new station at Trieste Airport on March 19.

GREEK privatisation agency the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) says national train operator Trainose has submitted the only bid in the sale of a 100% stake in Hellenic Company for Rolling Stock Maintenance (Rosco).

JAPAN’s International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has agreed to lend Yen 104.53bn ($US 1bn) to the Philippines for construction of the first underground metro line in Manila, which is a flagship scheme of the government’s Build-Build-Build programme.