THE government of São Paulo state has issued six tenders worth a total of Reais 22.8m ($US 11.3m) for feasibility studies into the construction of five new metro lines in the north of São Paulo city. The projects would add a total of 101.8km to the network, and would be implemented between 2016 and 2030.

QATAR Railways Company (QRC) signed five contracts worth a total of Riyals 1.48bn ($US 406.6m) on August 12 for preliminary works and project management on Phase 1a of the Doha Metro.

COPENHAGEN metro authority Metroselskabet has appointed a joint venture of Ramboll and Arup as design consultant for the extension of the metro to Nordhavn.

COLLECTIVE Transport Production (KTP), the organisation responsible for Oslo's metro, light rail, and bus operations, has awarded Invensys Rail two contracts worth a total of €13.4m.

ROMANIA's Ministry of Transport has appointed a consortium of PwC, David & Baias and George Butunoiu to recruit directors general and non-executive directors for 10 state-owned transport companies, four of which are in the rail sector.

This month London sees an unprecedented test of its transport infrastructure in the form of the Olympic Games. Keith Barrow examines how the city has prepared for the event.

THE European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to provide a €152m sovereign loan to finance the extension of the first metro line in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk.

KIEV metro operator Kiev Metropolitan today signed a contract worth around $US 134m with Kryukov Wagon Plant, Ukraine, for the modernisation of 95 type E and Ezh metro cars.

CHINA's National Development and Reform Commission has approved a public-private partnership deal for Line 1 of the Hangzhou metro.

BOMBARDIER has today signed cooperation agreements with Russian rolling stock supplier Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) to jointly develop and market metro and light rail vehicles for customers in Russia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.