THE remaining two shortlisted bidders for the West Midlands passenger rail franchise have been invited by the Department of Transport (DfT) to submit bids by November 29 for the new franchise which starts in October 2017.
URAL Locomotives presented the last of 33 ES2G Lastochka EMUs for the Moscow Ring Railway to Central Suburban Passenger Company at Podmoskovnaya depot in Moscow on August 22.
GROUNDBREAKING ceremonies were held in Fort Worth, North Richmond Hills, and Grapevine, Texas, on August 24 to officially launch construction on the $US 996m Tex Rail commuter rail project.
THE transport committee of Stockholm County Council has selected Stadler as preferred bidder for a contract to supply 22 891mm-gauge EMUs for the 65km Roslagsbanan, which links Stockholm with districts to the north and east of the Swedish capital.
PROPOSALS for a 74km light rail network and a second commuter rail line for Nashville have been included in a 25-year transit strategy for the region, which was presented to the boards of Nashville Metropoitan Transit Authority (NMTA) and Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee (RTA) on August 17 following 16 months of public consultation.
THE California State Transport Agency (Calsta) announced on August 16 the 14 recipients for the $US 390m 2016 Transit and Intercity Capital Programme (TIRCP) grants, $US 374m of which will be invested in rail.
CALTRAIN, which operates the San Francisco - San Jose commuter rail line in California, has awarded contracts to Stadler Rail for new trains and Balfour Beatty to electrify the 83.7km line.
THE Japanese government announced on August 12 that it will provide a $US 2.4bn loan for a new railway in the Philippines in order to ease Manila’s traffic difficulties.
CHICAGO commuter rail operator Metra announced on August 9 that due to changes in the availability of capital required to fund its $US 2.4bn modernisation plan, the agency has temporarily suspended its search for a vendor to supply 367 double-deck coaches.
GERMAN Rail (DB) announced on August 10 that its subsidiary DB Regio has lodged an appeal at the regional high court in Munich against a ruling by Bavaria’s public procurement authority which upheld the decision by Bavarian Railway Company (BEG) to award two contracts for the operation of the Nuremberg S-Bahn network to National Express.
