THE governor of São Paulo Mr Geraldo Alckmin officially unveiled the first refurbished train for São Paulo metro Line 1 today.

FRENCH President Mr Nicholas Sarkozy today joined Mr Jean-Paul Huchon, president of Ile-de-France Transport Authority (Stif) and Mr Pierre Mongin, director general of Paris Transport Authority (RATP) to mark the launch of the MI09 emus into passenger service on Paris RER Line A.

BUCHAREST Metro operator Metrorex has signed a Euros 97m contract with CAF for 16 metro trains, with options for a further eight sets. The trains have been part-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and will be delivered in 2013 for use on the new Line M5.

OFFICIALS from the city of Amsterdam, and Amsterdam Municipal Transport Company (GVB) attended the unveiling of Amsterdam Metro's new train at Alstom's plant in Valenciennes, France, on November 24.

STADLER is celebrating the sale of its 700th Flirt emu, after Italian operator South Tirol Transport (STA) exercised an option for eight additional six-car regional trains from a contract originally signed in 2008. The Euros 75m contract includes eight intermediate cars to lengthen the original fleet of eight trains to six cars.

SIEMENS today confirmed it has received its first firm order for the Avenio LRV with the signing of a Euros 100m contract for 40 vehicles by The Hague Tramways (HTM). The contract includes driver training, documentation, and spare parts, as well as options for up to 40 additional LRVs.

SAUDI Railways Organisation (SRO) has awarded a Euros 6.74bn contract to Al-Shoula, a Spanish-Saudi consortium, to equip, operate and maintain for 12 years the 450km Haramain high-speed line currently under construction between Mecca, Jeddah and Medina.