JUST in time for the celebration of the 180th anniversary of Cuban Railways, which took place on November 19, the first seven class TGM8KM diesel locomotives for Cuban Union Railways (UFC) completed their journey to the island from Russia.

FIVE of Brazil’s rail freight concessions are set to be renewed in 2018, and this is expected to generate investments of Reais 25bn ($US 7.6bn) in railway infrastructure up to 2023, according to Mr Fernando Paes, executive director of the National Association of Railway Carriers (ANTF).

BRASILIA metro has completed the installation of a solar power plant at Guariroba station on the Green Line with the capacity to generate up to 288MWh of electricity per year, which is sufficient to supply all of the energy required by this station and another station of the same size.

METRO de Santiago is opening its new 15km Line 6 on November 2. The $US 1.26bn line connects Los Leones on the eastern side of city with Cerrillos in the southwest of the Chilean capital and has 10 stations.

BRAZILIAN rail freight and logistics operator Rumo has signed an agreement with GE Transportation for the installation of GE’s Trip Optimizer energy management system on its locomotive fleet.

ALSTOM has begun delivery of an additional batch of 139 Metropolis 9000 metro cars for Lima metro.

ELECTRIC services on Buenos Aires’ suburban Roca Line were finally extended to the state capital La Plata on October 18 following the completion of electrification works on the 9.6km branch from City Bell.

ARGENTINA’s Ministry of Transport has launched an international tender for a contract to supply 1500 EMU cars for the Buenos Aires RER network, which will bring high-frequency services to suburban lines in the capital.

COSTA Rica’s national railway Incofer has announced it plans to order eight new passenger trains before the end the year.

TRANSMASHHOLDING, Russia, announced on September 21 that it has signed a contract with Cuban import agency Tradex for 28 four-car DMUs for Cuban Union Railways (UFC).