THE board of New York state’s Niagra Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) voted on February 22 to authorise the awarding of a $US 4.8m contract to WSP USA for environmental review and engineering design services on the first phase of the 11km extension of the Buffalo light rail network to Amherst.

BOSNIA and Herzegovina Federal Railways (ŽFBiH), one of two companies operating train services in the Balkan country, has posted its strongest financial results for 25 years.

TORONTO and Hamilton transit authority Metrolinx has published the findings of its Hydrail Feasibility Study into the potential use of hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) trains on the Go Transit commuter rail network.

MITSUBISHI Electric has delivered wayside and onboard radio equipment for the first deployment of Communciations-Based Train Control (CBTC) on the Tokyo metro network.

PLANS for a new tram line in the centre of Rome were unveiled on February 6 by the city’s mayor Mrs Virginia Raggi.

PLANS to extend the 1520mm-gauge network from Kosice, Slovakia, to Vienna by building a €6.5bn 400km electrified freight-only line, have been revived. The line would improve access to Europe for traffic from Russia and the Far East.

THE board of Helsinki Regional Transport (HSL) voted on February 13 to start the procurement procedure for an international competitive tender for the operation of the suburban rail network in the Finnish capital.

SOCIÉTÉ du Grand Paris (SGP) has awarded the first of three civil engineering contracts for four work packages on lines 14 North, 16 and 17 South of the Grand Paris automated metro network to a group led by Eiffage Civil Engineering under a €1.84bn deal.

THE French prime minister, Mr Edouard Philippe, conducted the first meetings on February 19 to discuss the reform of French National Railways (SNCF) following the submission to him on February 15 of a report on the future of rail transport by a commission led by former Air France-KLM chairman Mr Jean-Cyril Spinetta.

EUROSTAR operated its inaugural service between London, Rotterdam and Amsterdam on February 20, an event which outgoing CEO Mr Nicolas Petrovic described as historic for the international high-speed operator as it finally expanded east beyond its core London - Paris/Brussels network.