CAF confirmed on December 26 that it has received a turnkey contract worth more than €100m to supply rolling stock and signalling systems for Mauritius Metro Express, a 26km light rail line linking the island’s capital Port Louis with the town of Curepipe.

INDIAN prime minister Mr Narendra Modi officially opened the initial section of Delhi’s metro Magenta Line (Line 8) on December 25, when he took an inaugural trip on the 16.6km, nine-station section between Botanical Garden station in Noida and an interchange with the Violet Line at Kalkaji Mandir.

A ceremony was held at Grasse station in southern France on December 21 to mark the completion of a €39m upgrade of the 16.6km line from Cannes.

Korea marked the completion of a key transport project for the 2018 Winter Olympics on December 22, with the opening of the 120.7km Wonju - Gangneung section of the Gyeonggang Line.

ALSTOM has signed an agreement with Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) to acquire its remaining 25% stake in the EKZ electric locomotive production joint venture. Once approved by the relevant authorities, the deal will increase Alstom’s share in EKZ to 75%.

NETINERA subsidiary Metronom has been awarded a 15-year concession to continue operating three regional express lines in northern Germany by Lower Saxony’s regional public transport authority LNVG and the cities of Hamburg and Bremen.

ISRAEL Railways (IR) has conducted its first test run with an electric locomotive when a Bombardier Traxx locomotive reached a speed of 160km/h along the first 12km electrified section of the A1 between Anava junction and Latrun Monastery.

AUSTRALIAN rail freight operator Aurizon has made good on its August 2017 decision to exit the interstate intermodal business, with its last revenue trains running between Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane this week.

DB Regio’s new fleet of Bombardier class 445 and 446 Twindexx EMUs finally entered passenger service in early December.