A flurry of new metro lines and line extensions opened in cities across China in the final week of 2016.

CONSTRUCTION of the China - Laos railway officially got underway on January 1 following a ceremony held in the northern Lao city of Luang Prabang and attended by the prime minister of Laos, Mr Thongloun Sisoulith.

THE government of the Philippines has reopened bidding to Japanese companies for the supply of 120 new LRVs for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 in Manila after it abandoned a previous tender in March 2016.

NEW York City celebrated the opening of a 4.4km extension of the Q Line metro from 57th Street and Seventh Avenue to 96th Street and Second Avenue in the upper east side of Manhattan on December 31, nearly a century since the project was first proposed.

SOUTH KOREA’s national railway operator, Korail, announced on December 30 that it has signed a Won 260bn ($US 216m) contract to purchase 84 high-speed EMU-250 units from Hyundai Rotem.

CASA Transport has selected subsidiaries Engie Ineo and Engie Cofely Maroc to equip the new T2 tram line and the extension of the T1 line in Casablanca, Morocco.

BAYERN LB and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) announced on December 14 that they will finance 28 trains that will be operated by Transdev subsidiary Bavaria Regional Rail (BRB) from December 2018 on the Munich/Augsburg - Füssen and Augsburg - Landsberg network.

SILICONE Engineering, a supplier of silicone rubber for mass transit applications, has developed a new sponge material which is flame resistant and emits low levels of smoke.

SANTIAGO Metro has instructed CAF to deliver four additional five-car metro trains for deployment on lines 3 and 6 which are currently under construction in the Chilean capital.

THE public transport authorities of Bremen and Hamburg, Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG), and the region of Hannover have published a tender to operate five regional and fast train services from December 9 2018 until December 10 2033.