FOR its January 2016 issue, International Railway Journal has forsaken its usual format for something a little different. The Railway in 2016 is a comprehensive look ahead to the trends and issues set to impact the global rail industry in 2016 and beyond through interviews and insight from leading industry figures from across the world.

PANAMA Metro has awarded a €145m contract to a consortium including Alstom, Thales, Sofratresa, CIM, and TSO to expand the Panama City metro Line 1 train fleet and upgrade the line's signalling system, power supply, and depot facilities.

BRAZILIAN president Ms Dilma Rousseff attended a ceremony in Salvador on December 22 to open Pirajá station and the final 2.2km phase of the original 11.9km metro Line 1, 12 years after the project was initially scheduled for completion.

Private concessionaire FCCA, which has been operating and maintaining the world's second-highest railway in Peru since 1999, has invested heavily in both the infrastructure and its fleet. As Keith Fender reports, from Peru, this is now paying off as freight traffic has more than doubled and the railway is making an operating profit.

BRAZIL's National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) confirmed on December 1 that it will provide the Bahia state government with a Reais 2bn ($US 530m) long-term loan to finance the publically-funded element of the second phase of the metro network in the state capital Salvador.

THE Rio de Janeiro state government has announced plans to extend Line 2 of the Rio de Janeiro metro to better serve the city centre and separate it from Line 1.

CHILEAN commuter rail operator Valparaíso Regional Metro (Merval) officially launched its new fleet of Alstom X'Trapolis Modular EMUs on December 1, when the first trains entered passenger service on the 43km Valparaíso - Limache line.

SÃO PAULO Metro launched an international tender on November 24 for a contract worth around Reais 1.3bn ($US 330m) to complete the second phase of metro Line 4, following the termination of the original civil works contract earlier this year.

BRAZIL's National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has approved Reais 587.8m ($US 151.3m) in financing for VLI Logistics for the railfreight operator to invest in new locomotives and wagons manufactured in Brazil.

THE first trial runs with passengers on the 28km Porto Maravilha light rail network took place on November 21, when the mayor of Rio de Janeiro Mr Eduardo Paes boarded an Alstom tram for trip over the city centre section of the line.