BRAZIL will launch public consultation on September 29 for Ferrogrão, a 1142km railway linking the grain-producing region of the mid-west with the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon.

THE Brazilian city of Salvador extended its metro network to 29km on September 11, when the governor of the Brazilian state of Bahia, Mr Rui Costa, joined passengers for an inaugural trip on the 7.5km section of Line 2 between Pituaçu and Mussurunga.

SÃO Paulo Metro opened a 2.8km northeastern extension of Line 5 on September 6, adding three new stations to the city’s steadily expanding metro network.

PAULISTA Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) has finally signed a Reais 316.7m ($US 101.6m) contract with a consortium of CRRC Sifang and Brazilian company Temoinsa to supply eight eight-car trains for the Line 13, which will connect Safira station with São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport.

LIMA Metro has awarded a €2.1m two-year contract to a consortium of Catalunya Railways (FGC) and Spanish consultant engineering company Ardanuy to supervise infrastructure and rolling stock maintenance on Line 1.

THE Inter-American Development Bank has approved a $US 400m loan to support signalling and telecommunications upgrades and electrification of the 76km San Martin commuter railway in Buenos Aires, the only suburban line in the city not to be electrified.

POSE, Argentina, has awarded a €10m sub-contract to Alstom to supply signalling equipment for a project to resignal four stations on the Merlo - Lobos branch of the Sarmiento Line in Buenos Aires for Argentinean Trains Infrastructure (TAI).

THE proposal to build a transcontinental railway linking Brazil and Peru - the Bi-oceanic Railway - has hit a stumbling block on the choice of the best route through Peru.

WHILE the northern section of Brazil’s North-South Railway (FNS) from Açailândia to Barcarena struggles to get off the drawing board, the northern state of Pará is moving ahead with plans for the 1316km Paraense Railway (Fepasa), which will run parallel and the to west of the FNS along the state’s eastern flank.

PAULISTA Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) says it expects to launch commercial operations on São Paulo suburban Line 13 (Jade) between Safira station on Line 12 and Guarulhos International Airport, Brazil’s busiest airport, in the first half of next year.