JAPAN’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MILT) announced on September 26 that it has approved plans for the construction of a 14.6km light rail line in Utsunomiya, the capital of Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo.
THE extension of the Los Angeles light rail network to Montclair moved a step closer to construction on September 28, when the board of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority approved draft advanced conceptual engineering documents for the 19.8km line from Azusa.
THE 120th and final M5000 LRV for Manchester’s Metrolink light rail network left Bombardier’s plant in Vienna on September 27 on the first leg of its journey to Britain.
MOSCOW tramway operator Mosgortrans has awarded a contract worth around Roubles 56bn ($US 877m) to supply and maintain 300 low-floor trams to a Russian joint venture of Transmashholding subsidiary Metrowagonmash and PK Transport Systems.
SOUND Transit announced on September 22 that it has finalised an order worth around $US 554m with Siemens for 122 LRVs, which are being procured as part of the Sound Transit 2 plan to expand Seattle’s light rail network.
IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: SIEMENS says it has delivered eight of the 19 Avenio QEC low-floor LRVs for Qatar’s Education City light rail line, while the remaining 11 vehicles are at the company’s Wildenrath test centre in northwest Germany.
IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: POLISH tram and bus manufacturer Solaris and Stadler Rail announced on September 20 that the two companies will launch a new strategic partnership to bid for contracts to supply light rail vehicles in Poland and elsewhere in central and eastern Europe.
THE US city of Charlotte has issued a call for tender for the construction of Phase 2 of its CityLynx light rail Gold Line, adding extensions totalling 4km at each end of the 2.4km Phase 1 which opened in mid-2015.
THE first of six Liberty LRVs being built by Brookville Equipment Corporation, United States, for Detroit’s first modern tram line arrived at the line’s Penske Technical Center depot on September 13, two months ahead of schedule.
THE San Diego Association of Governments (Sandag) has announced on September 14 that it secured a $US 1bn grant from the Federal Transit Administration for the 17.7km Mid-Coast LRT extension.
