The construction of a circular light rail line in Kaohsiung will bring more residents and businesses in Taiwan's second city within easy reach of the rail network, as James Chuang explains.

Think of urban rail investment in Paris and the ambitious Grand Paris express metro project probably springs to mind. However, a rolling programme of light rail construction is continually extending the tram network into more areas of the city. Keith Barrow outlines the next phase of development.

VIENNA's public transport operator Wiener Linien has awarded a €431m contract to Bombardier to supply and maintain for 24 years a fleet of 119 Flexity LRVs. The contract includes an option for an additional 37 LRVs together with their maintenance.

With new locomotives and EMUs set to revitalise its dilapidated fleet, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa is starting to overcome decades of underinvestment. Yet more is required to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly urban population, as group CEO Lucky Montana reveals in an exclusive interview with Paul Ash.

BELGIAN public transport operator De Lijn has exercised an option worth €97m with Bombardier for 40 additional Flexity 2 low-floor LRVs, which will be used on the metre-gauge tram networks in Antwerp and Ghent.

THE European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment has agreed to provide a Tenge 2.5bn ($US 13.4m) loan to fund the modernisation of the 86km tram network in Pavlodar, a city of 330,000 people in northwest Kazakhstan.

With Brazil's ambitious programme of railway construction plans stalling, the government is revising its concession model for new projects to rely more on private investment while easing pressure on public debt. Kevin Smith looks at the intricacies of this new policy and how the market might receive it.  

LETBANEN, the public company responsible for developing the tram-train network in the Danish city of Aarhus, revealed the final interior and exterior designs on June 1 for its fleet of 26 LRVs, which is being supplied by Stadler Pankow.

PLANS to extend Budapest metro Line 4 east from its current terminus at Keleti have effectively been abandoned after the municipal goverment voted instead to expand the city's tram network.

COMMERCIAL services began operating on Marseille's third light rail line on May 30 with the opening of the 1.2km branch to Place Castellane, which extends the network into the south of the city.