FOLLOWING an international tender, Canadian national passenger operator Via Rail has awarded Siscog, Portugal, a contract to supply timetabling and train fleet management software as part of a programme to upgrade its operational planning and scheduling capabilities.

TRENITALIA is set to continue operating regional services in Umbria until December 2020 under a new contract which was signed in Perugia on January 13 by regional councillor for transport Mr Giuseppe Chianella and regional director of Trenitalia's passenger division Mr Orazio Iacono.

AN initial public consultation began on January 18 on plans for a further section of Paris's orbital Tramway des Maréchaux, which would extend Line T3b into the city's 16th arrondissement.

METRO Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmadabad (Mega), the special purpose vehicle established by the Indian government and the state of Gujarat to construct the Ahmedabad metro network, launched an international competitive tender on January 15 to supply 96 metro cars for the first phase of the project.

LONDON Underground has invited Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi and Siemens, which previously pre-qualified, to submit tenders to supply a fleet of 250 trains under its New Tube for London project.

THE first of 14 four-car light metro trains being built by Bombardier Transportation and Hartasuma for operation on the Kelana Jaya Line in Kuala Lumpur was presented to Prasarana Malaysia and the operator Rapid KL on January 18.

SWEDEN's minister for infrastructure Mrs Anna Johansson officially launched test operation along the full length of Stockholm's SKr 16.8bn ($US 1.96bn) City Line on January 14 when she made an inaugural journey through the 6km tunnel between Stockholm South and Tomteboda.

CALGARY Transit unveiled its first Siemens S200 high-floor LRVs on January 15 and says it is on course to introduce the new fleet on the CTrain light rail network this spring.

THE Polish city of Bydgoszcz expanded its metre-gauge tram network by nearly a third on January 16 with the inauguration of the 9.3km extension from Fordońska/Wyscigowa to Loskon in the northeastern district of Fordon.

THE long-planned connection between the southern and northern tram systems on the Buda side of Budapest finally became a reality on January 16, transforming public transport services in the west of the Hungarian capital.