THE European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment has agreed to provide a Tenge 2.5bn ($US 13.4m) loan to fund the modernisation of the 86km tram network in Pavlodar, a city of 330,000 people in northwest Kazakhstan.

CANADIAN national passenger rail operator Via Rail has awarded IVU Traffic Technologies, Germany, a contract to supply resource planning software for duty scheduling and dispatching.

THE merger of China's two rolling stock manufacturers, CNR and CSR, was finalised on June 1 to form CRRC Corporation Limited, the world's largest train builder.

BRITAIN's Department for Transport (DfT) announced on June 2 that it has shortlisted three bidders for the new East Anglia franchise, with incumbent Abellio seeking to retain the contract in the face of competition from First Group and the network's former operator National Express.

SPANISH infrastructure manager Adif is inviting bids for a contract to install ERTMS on a 56km stretch of Barcelona's Rodalies suburban rail network in a long-awaited move to increase capacity and improve service reliability.

THE board of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Septa) has approved the acquisition of 13 ACS-64 electric locomotives from Siemens as part of its budget for the 2015-16 financial year, which starts on July 1.

With Brazil's ambitious programme of railway construction plans stalling, the government is revising its concession model for new projects to rely more on private investment while easing pressure on public debt. Kevin Smith looks at the intricacies of this new policy and how the market might receive it.  

LETBANEN, the public company responsible for developing the tram-train network in the Danish city of Aarhus, revealed the final interior and exterior designs on June 1 for its fleet of 26 LRVs, which is being supplied by Stadler Pankow.

PLANS to extend Budapest metro Line 4 east from its current terminus at Keleti have effectively been abandoned after the municipal goverment voted instead to expand the city's tram network.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has decided to terminate the lease on the fleet of 13 class 605 ICE-TD inter-city DMUs used by Danish State Railways (DSB) on Eurocity services from Hamburg to Copenhagen and Aarhus.