The municipality of São José dos Campos, northeast of São Paulo, announced on November 24 that it is cancelling the construction of its proposed 15km light rail line in favour of a bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

THE first of 26 trains being supplied by CAF, Spain, for Line 5 of the São Paulo metro has been delivered.

BRAZILIAN railfreight operator MRS Logistics has announced third quarter volumes increased 17.6% year-on-year to a record 42.9 million tonnes, largely thanks to increasing iron-ore traffic.

THE government of the Brazilian state of São Paulo has announced that it received just one bid in the new tender to build, operate and maintain São Paulo metro Line 6.

BRAZILIAN president Mrs Dilma Rousseff and governor of the state of São Paulo, Mr Geraldo Alckmin, announced on October 25 that a further Reais 5.4bn ($US 2.47bn) will be made available for commuter rail and metro investment in São Paulo.

CHILEAN State Railways (EFE) has awarded Bombardier a $US 21m contract to supply and install ETCS Level 1 on the 22km Santiago Alameda – Nós line, the first commercial deployment of ERTMS in Chile and only the second in South America.

SANTIAGO Metro has awarded a contract to a French consortium of ETF and Colas Rail to install and maintain track and catenary on two new metro lines in the Chilean capital.

THE government of the Brazilian state of Bahia has signed a Reais 4bn ($US 1.85bn) PPP contract with Brazilian infrastructure concessionaire CCR for the construction and operation of the second phase of the metro network in the state capital Salvador.

THE governor of the Brazilian state of Ceará Mr Cid Gomes signed a Reais 2.26bn ($US 1.03bn) contract with a consortium of Centenco Engineering, Brazil, and Acciona Infrastructure, Spain, on October 11 for civil works on the 12.4km Fortaleza Metro East Line.

THE government of Argentina has placed an order with China Northern Rolling Stock (CNR) for 27 three-car metre gauge dmus, which will be used on commuter services on the metre-gauge Belgrano Sur network in Buenos Aires.