ITALIAN design and engineering company Italdesign Giugiaro has been awarded a contract by CRRC Guangzhou Electric Locomotive, to design a new tram for Guangzhou.

ALSTOM has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Industrial Development and Renovation Organisation of Iran (IDRO), and Iranian Rail Industries Development Company (IRICO) to create a joint venture for the localised production of metro and suburban rolling stock for Iranian cities.

GERMAN Rail’s (DB) freight subsidiary DB Cargo has awarded Siemens a contract to upgrade its locomotive fleet with condition-based, predictive maintenance.

HELSINKI Transport (HKL) has leased two of its Variotram low-floor LRVs to Rhine-Neckar Transport (RNV), which will evaluate the vehicles on its tram networks in Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, and Heidelberg.

CATALONIAN Government Railways (FGC) expanded its standard-gauge Barcelona - Vallès suburban network on July 20, when the president of Catalonia Mr Carles Puigdemont inaugurated the second phase of the Line S2 Sabadell extension.

CZECH Railways (CD) has ordered 12 EffiShunter 300 shunting locomotives from CZ Loko to replace class 714 locomotives, which were built in the mid-1990s.

BEACON Rail Leasing announced on July 21 that it has concluded the acquisition of the fleet of class 220 and 221 Voyager inter-city DEMUs operated by British franchises Virgin Trains West Coast and Cross Country Trains.

AUCKLAND Council is expected to decide next week whether to proceed with an order for 17 battery-electric multiple units, which would replace DMUs on services on suburban services to Pukekohe.

ETHIOPIAN Railway Corporation (ERC) announced at the beginning of July that construction on a new line linking the Addis Ababa - Djibouti standard-gauge railway with the north of the country is making good progress.

HYUNDAI Rotem announced on July 21 that it has been awarded a Won 176bn ($US 157m) contract by Seoul Metro to supply 214 metro cars for Line 2.