SACRAMENTO Regional Transit District carried out the first test runs on the 6.9km southern extension of the light rail Blue Line from Meadowview Road to Cosumnes River College on June 29.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) subsidiary Federal Passenger Company (FPC) has taken delivery of its first set of double-deck day coaches from Tver Carriage Works (TVZ).

THE French city of Caen has awarded a contract to provide design and project management services for its planned light rail network to ASyAS, a consortium of French companies Artélia, Setec, Attica, and Signes.

THE Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia) and the metro authorities from the cities of Jeddah and Mecca are in the final stages of producing a joint request for proposals (RFP) for the Mecca and Jeddah metro projects.

THE European Commission (EC) has issued new guidelines on the enforcement of rail passenger rights amid concerns that member states and train operators are failing to comply with European legislation.

SWISS passenger operator BLS has initiated a three-year, SFr 30.7m ($US 32.6m) programme to upgrade 36 three and four car Nina EMUs, which will extend the service life of the trains for a further 15-20 years.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has announced that it will introduce a Moscow - St Petersburg - Tallinn service from July 10 two months after Estonian operator GoRail ceased operation of its remaining Estonia - Russia cross-border trains.

MTR says the Express Rail Link project to construct a high-speed line from West Kowloon in Hong Kong to the Chinese border and Shenzhen is expected to exceed its budget by 30%, or $HK 20bn ($US 2.58bn), and the opening will be further delayed until the third quarter of 2018.

IN response to growing demand, Medellin Metro has selected CAF to supply 20 three-car trains for the 34.5km two-line metro network in Colombia's second city.