THE Philippine Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC) held a meeting with prospective investors in Manila on March 20 to outline proposals for a major expansion of the capital's rail network.

Malaysia's Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT) and Siemens have unveiled a full-size mock-up of the forthcoming Inspiro metro train for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Sungai Buloh – Kajang line in Kuala Lumpur, which is currently under construction.

METRÔ RIO celebrated the opening of Rio de Janeiro's 36th metro station on March 15, with the inauguration of the 1.1km extension of Line 1 from Saens Peña to Uruguai.

THE Russian government says it expects to approve legislation in the middle of this year which would allow the private sector to invest in metro projects, including the construction of new lines and the acquisition of new rolling stock.

EGYPT's National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) has published a tender notice for a contract to supply and maintain 20 new nine-car trains for Cairo metro Line 1.

ŠKODA Kingway Electric, a joint venture of Škoda and Jiangsu Kingway Transportation, China, has secured a contract to supply drives and motors for 40 six-car metro trains being supplied by CSR Nanjing Puzhen to the Chinese city of Suzhou.

QATAR Railways, which is responsible for the construction of Doha's 354km four-line metro, has awarded a €506m contract to a consortium led by FCC, Spain, to build a section of the Red Line.

The Saudi capital Riyadh has set itself a daunting task: to build an automated metro comprising six lines simultaneously in five years. David Briginshaw explains how this ambitious project will be implemented.

Bangkok is pushing ahead with several projects to improve its rapid transit infrastructure. But with past schemes suffering from delays due to political wrangling, and as another political crisis grips Thailand, Kevin Smith assesses the current state of play for these undertakings.