THE mayor of Izmir Mr Aziz Kocaoglu inaugurated the 8.8km Karşiyaka - Mavişehir light rail line on April 11, adding 14 stations to the city’s expanding urban rail network.

BOMBARDIER and Siemens are discussing a possible merger between their two railway equipment manufacturing division, Bombardier Transportation and Siemens Mobility, according to a report by Bloomberg.

GE Transportation announced on April 12 that it has completed the acquisition of a 50% stake in JSC Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ) from Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ).

ACCORDING to a study by SCI Verkehr, Germany, the world market for metro cars is set to grow at an annual rate of 1-2% from what it describes as a very high current market volume of more than €8bn.

FRANCE’s Institute of Technological Research (IRT) SystemX, together with French National Railways (SNCF) and Alstom, has launched a two-year project to automate the observation functions of train drivers.

SWEDISH open-access operator MTR Express announced on April 12 that it will reduce journey times for its Stockholm - Gothenburg services after its fleet of Stadler Flirt trains received certification from rail regulator Transportstyrelsen to operate at their maximum speed of 200km/h.

CBH Group, Australia, has awarded a contract to Wi-Tronix, United States, to equip its fleet of 25 diesel-electric locomotives, which are used to haul grain trains, with Wi-Nostix, a predictive fault diagnostics and monitoring system.

MALAYSIA’s Ministry of Communications signed two contracts with CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive for 22 metre-gauge multiple units at a ceremony in Changsha, China, on April 11.

THE CEO of Italian State Railways (FS), Mr Renato Mazzoncini, signed an agreement in Rome on April 7 with Mr Guillermo Dietrich, Argentina’s minister of transport, for FS to provide technical assistance for the Buenos Aires Regional Express (RER) rail project.

COAL services operated by Australian rail freight operator Aurizon have suffered severe disruption following heavy rain and flooding caused by Cyclone Debbie which made landfall on the Queensland coast during the last week of March.