FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) has selected a consortium of Alstom-Bombardier to renew trains on lines D and E of the Paris RER network.

THE New South Wales (NSW) state government has announced that following the granting of final planning approvals, construction will begin this year on stage 2 of the Sydney Metro project from Chatswood through the Sydney central business district to Sydenham and on to Bankstown.

SIEMENS announced on January 4 that it will provide traction power supply equipment for the first 9km section of metro Line 1 in Lima.

NATIONAL Express Group has agreed in principle to sell its c2c rail franchise in Britain to Italian State Railways’ (FS) train operating subsidiary Trenitalia for around £70m, subject to approval from the Department for Transport (DfT).

THE Netherlands' secretary of state at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Mrs Sharon Dijksma, has approved the allocation of a further €25m to eliminate the Dutch railway network’s final unsecured level crossings.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) announced on January 10 that Sapsan high-speed trains carried 4.8 million passengers in 2016, 37.4% more than in 2015.

CHICAGO Transit Authority (CTA) has received $US 1.07bn in funding from the United States’ Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to support phase one of its Red and Purple Modernisation Project (RPM).

THE Port Authority of New York/New Jersey Board of Commissioners announced on January 6 a $US 32bn draft 2017-2026 capital investment plan for public comment and review.

MUMBAI Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has invited bids from civil engineering companies for 10 construction packages for the city’s new 23.5km metro Line 2B and the 32.32km Line 4.

THE Chinese city of Fuzhou celebrated the opening of a 15.1km northern extension of Line 1 between previous terminus Sanchajie and Xiangfeng on January 6.