THE government of Costa Rica has confirmed its intention to push forward with a project to develop rail backbone for the metropolitan area of its capital city, San José, after Mr Guillermo Santana, the president of rail authority Incofer, announced the allocation of Colón 3.5bn ($US 6.58m) from the 2016 budget for planning.

THE president of Venezuela Mr Nicolás Maduro inaugurated the initial phase of Caracas metro Line 5 on November 3.

ALSTOM has announced an increase in sales and operating income for the first half of 2015-16. Between 1 April and 30 September 2015, Alstom achieved sales of €3.3bn – an 8% increase over the same period last year – and Alstom's income from operations grew by 10%, from €152m to €167m, with an operating margin of 5.1%.

STUDIES of two new lines included in the first phase of Brazil's revised Investment Programme in Logistics (PIL) have been submitted by Triunfo Participações e Investimentos (TPI) to the Ministry of Transport for review and to assist with the preparation of bidding documents.

CAF has presented the first of 185 metro cars for Santiago to Chilean minister for transport and telecommunications Mr Andrés Gómes-Lobo and Santiago Metro president Mr Rodrigo Azócar at its Bessain plant in northern Spain.

THE Metropolitan District of Quito and Quito Metro announced on October 27 that they have selected a consortium of Acciona, Spain, and Odebrecht, Brazil as preferred bidder for the $US 1.54bn main construction contract for the first metro line in the Ecuadorian capital.

THE first LRV to be assembled on Alstom's new €15m Citadis LRV production line at Taubaté in the Brazilian state of São Paulo was officially unveiled on October 21 and is now undergoing tests on the newly-commissioned test track at the facility.

PANAMANIAN president Mr Juan Carlos Varela officially launched construction on Panama City's second metro line on October 5, when a groundbreaking ceremony was held in the district of Las Mañanitas at the eastern extremity of the line.

THE foreign trade agency of the Cuban Ministry of Transport and RM Rail, Russia, signed a contract on September 15 for the delivery of 363 new freight wagons for Cuban Railways (UFC).

ARGENTINA's minister of the interior and transport Mr Florencio Randazzo signed a letter of intent with representatives of China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) during a visit to China this week to finance the second phase of the rehabilitation of the metre-gauge Belgrano Cargas network.