METRO Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmadabad (Mega), the special purpose vehicle established by the Indian government and the state of Gujarat to construct the Ahmedabad metro network, launched an international competitive tender on January 15 to supply 96 metro cars for the first phase of the project.

CATALONIA Government Railways (FGC) president Mr Carles Puigdemont visited Lleida on January 16 to witness the delivery of the first Stadler DMU for the Lleida – La Pobla de Segur line.

LONDON Underground has invited Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi and Siemens, which previously pre-qualified, to submit tenders to supply a fleet of 250 trains under its New Tube for London project.

THE first of 14 four-car light metro trains being built by Bombardier Transportation and Hartasuma for operation on the Kelana Jaya Line in Kuala Lumpur was presented to Prasarana Malaysia and the operator Rapid KL on January 18.

SWEDEN's minister for infrastructure Mrs Anna Johansson officially launched test operation along the full length of Stockholm's SKr 16.8bn ($US 1.96bn) City Line on January 14 when she made an inaugural journey through the 6km tunnel between Stockholm South and Tomteboda.

CALGARY Transit unveiled its first Siemens S200 high-floor LRVs on January 15 and says it is on course to introduce the new fleet on the CTrain light rail network this spring.

THE Polish city of Bydgoszcz expanded its metre-gauge tram network by nearly a third on January 16 with the inauguration of the 9.3km extension from Fordońska/Wyscigowa to Loskon in the northeastern district of Fordon.

SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) railfreight subsidiary SBB Cargo and AlpTransit Gotthard operated the first freight train through the Gotthard Base Tunnel on January 16, marking another milestone in the test programme for the 57km tunnel, which is due to open in December.

THE long-planned connection between the southern and northern tram systems on the Buda side of Budapest finally became a reality on January 16, transforming public transport services in the west of the Hungarian capital.

DESPITE Spain's economic woes, the country's love affair with high-speed trains is far from over. As IRJ went to press, the candidates best positioned to win the general election on December 20 all had one thing in common: a commitment to continue the massive investment in the AVE network while promising to keep a tight control over the public deficit in 2016.