ALSTOM announced on January 31 that it has signed a €91m contract with Lyon Transport Authority, Sytral, for the automation of metro lines B and D of the Lyon metro.

ARIZONA’s Valley Metro announced on January 19 that it has selected Stacy and Witbeck to build the first tram line in the city of Tempe, Arizona.

THE Supervisory Board of German Rail (DB) has unanimously approved a request from CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube to terminate his employment with immediate effect.

THE Colombian government has allocated Pesos 15 trillion ($US 5.1bn) towards urban transport projects in the capital Bogota, with a significant chunk of the funding destined for the city’s first metro line.

TRANSNET, South Africa, has awarded a contract to GE to install its Predix operating system for the industrial internet to connect shippers and transport operators by providing real-time information on the status of shipments.

THE Nigerian federal government has approved construction of the Kano - Kaduna standard-gauge line.

SIEMENS has concluded two further contracts for Vectron electric locomotives with customers in Austria and Switzerland.

BRAZIL’s Court of Auditors (TCU) ruled on January 25 that all transfers of funds from state-owned institutions to the Transnordestina railway project must be halted due to a “serious mismatch between the investments and the physical accounting schedule.”

PASSENGER numbers on the Polish railway network reached their highest level for 14 years in 2016, according to figures published by the Office of Railway Transport (UTK) on January 27.

SYRIA’s transport minister Mr Ali Hammoud visited Aleppo on January 25 to mark the resumption of passenger services in the country’s largest city more than four years after operations were suspended due to the civil war.