A full-size mock-up of a Metropolis train for lines 4, 5 and 6 of the Riyadh metro was presented in the Saudi capital by Alstom on June 8 to the governor of Riyadh, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the transport minister HE Suleiman Al Hamdan.

POWERLINES Group, Austria, has been awarded a contract by CCE Elektrik, Turkey, to supply overhead catenary components for electrification of new light rail lines in the Turkish cities of Izmir and Izmit.

FIRST Group announced on June 8 that its subsidiary Great Western Railway has finaised an agreement with Porterbrook Leasing to lease 37 new four-car Bombardier class 387 Electrostar EMUs, in addition to the eight sets already on order.

SINGAPORE's Land Transport Authority (LTA) is exploring two alignment options for the proposed 50km east-west Cross Island Line (CRL) in the island state's Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) due to concerns over ground conditions.

TESTING began on the first completed section of Delhi metro Line 8 (Magenta Line) Delhi metro network on June 8, when the first low-speed test runs took place on a 3.5km section between Kalindi Kunj depot and Okhla Vihar station.

STATE Railway of Thailand (SRT) says it expects to take delivery of an initial batch of 13 metre-gauge inter-city coaches from CRRC Corporation, China, within the next few weeks.

BRITISH Steel, which was formed following the purchase of Tata Steel's Long Products Europe division by Greybull Capital in May, has launched a new premium-coated rail called Zinoco.

THE premier of the Canadian state of Ontario Mrs Kathleen Wynne visited the site of the future Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station in York on June 6 to mark the completion of tracklaying on the Toronto-York Spadina subway extension.

THE government of the Brazilian state of São Paulo announced on June 7 that TC-Linha 4 Amarela, a consortium of Comsa and Tiisa Infraestrutura e Investimentos, has been selected to complete the second phase of metro Line 4.

TESTING of the first Siemens Vectron for Czech rail freight operator ČD Cargo began on the Czech mainline network on May 31, when the locomotive ran under its own power between Pořičany and Velím on the Prague - Kolín line.