THE French city of Grenoble inaugurated the second phase of light rail Line E on July 13 with the launch of commercial services on the 6.7km extension from Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux Town Hall to Saint Égrève and Fontanil Cornillion.

KUALA Lumpur's Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT) has appointed Arup as reference design consultant for the underground section of Klang Valley MRT Line 2, which will link Sungai Buloh with Serdang and Putrajaya.

THE mayor of Toulouse Mr Jean-Luc Moudenc announced a timetable for the planning and construction of the city's third metro line on July 7.

SWEDISH national passenger operator SJ has awarded EuroMaint, Sweden, a contract to maintain its fleet of X2000 tilting trains and locomotive-hauled coaches from March 2016.

SIEMENS and Sinara celebrated the fifth anniversary of their Ural Locomotives Russian joint venture on July 9 by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will pave the way for the assembly of high-speed trains at its Verkhnaya Pyshma plant near Yekaterinburg.

THE government of the Federal District of Mexico City has awarded a contract to carry out civil works on the 3.9km western extension of metro Line 12 to a consortium of Prodemex, Mexico, and Proacon, Spain.

NEW South Wales (NSW) state minister for transport and infrastructure Mr Andrew Constance confirmed on July 9 that four suppliers have been shortlisted to bid for a contract to supply 65 eight-car inter-city EMUs.

BRAZIL's National Bank for Social and Economic Development (BNDES) has announced that it will provide loans totalling Reais 70.5m ($US 21.9m) to finance 19 diesel locomotives ordered by freight operators VLI and Rumo Logistics from GE Transportation.

WORK on Line 1 of the Riyadh Metro took a significant step forward this week when the first tunnel boring machine (TBM), Mneefah, named after the horse of the founding King of Saudi Arabia, began its journey beneath the Saudi capital.

PORTUGAL's Council of Ministers decided on July 9 to shortlist three candidates for the privatisation of state-owned railfreight operator CP Carga, while two companies have been put forward for the sell-off of former Portuguese Trains (CP) subsidiary Railway Equipment Maintenance Company (EMEF).