MR Oleg Belozerov, president of Russian Railways (RZD), was elected chairman of the International Union of Railways (UIC) at the UIC's general assembly on December 1.

CHILEAN commuter rail operator Valparaíso Regional Metro (Merval) officially launched its new fleet of Alstom X'Trapolis Modular EMUs on December 1, when the first trains entered passenger service on the 43km Valparaíso - Limache line.

THE Thai cabinet approved on December 1 a Baht 1.8 trillion ($US 50.3bn) investment plan comprising 20 transport projects drawn up by the Ministry of Transport and designed to kick-start the country's economy.

CAPACITY on the southern section of the Eidsvoll - Lillehammer - Trondheim Dovre Line was increased significantly on December 1, when Norwegian infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket completed construction of a new 17km double-track section between Langset and Kleverud, which runs alongside Lake Mjøsa.

SÃO PAULO Metro launched an international tender on November 24 for a contract worth around Reais 1.3bn ($US 330m) to complete the second phase of metro Line 4, following the termination of the original civil works contract earlier this year.

A project to connect the southern and northern tram systems on the Buda side of Hungary's capital reached a milestone on the evening of November 22, when the first trams passed over the newly-completed line between Margithíd and Batthyány tér.

THE continuing decline in coal transport, in part caused by cheaper supplies of oil and gas, plus the global slowdown in the steel industry continues to impact railfreight volumes in central Europe.

UNICREDIT Leasing, Germany, has awarded Siemens a contract to supply eight 3kV dc Vectron electric locomotives, which will be leased by DB Schenker Rail Italy.

INDIAN Railways (IR) signed two contracts with a combined value of around Rs 450bn ($US 6.8bn) with Alstom and GE Transportation on November 30 for a total of 1800 freight locomotives, most of which will be assembled at purpose-built plants in the north-eastern state of Bihar as part of the government's Make in India initiative.

JAPAN International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has granted a $US 2bn loan to fund the Philippines government's portion of the Manila North-South Commuter Rail project.