THE French Railway Safety Board (EPSF) granted a supplementary authorisation to place in service (SAPS) on March 31 for the Siemens Velaro D multi-system high-speed train, enabling the operation of German Rail's (DB) class 407 fleet on the French network.

FINLAND's VR Group has received its first 1524mm-gauge electric Vectron locomotive from Siemens, which will be used for testing purposes, ahead of delivery from early 2016 of the first 10 units from a €320m order for 80 locomotives placed in .

DELHI Metro Rail Corporation has issued an international tender notice for a contract to supply 26 standard-gauge three-car trains for the 29.7km Noida – Greater Noida metro line southeast of Delhi, which is due to open in 2017.

CLEARANCE testing for the 10.6km second phase of Los Angeles Expo Metro Line Construction Authority's Expo Line light rail project began April 6, when an LRV operating under its own power ran west from Culver City and across the new bridge over Venice Boulevard.

PASSENGER traffic on Ireland's railways continued to recover in the first quarter of this year according to figures released by Irish Rail (IE) on April 9, which show ridership in the first three months of 2015 increased by 3.8% compared with the same period last year.

TRANSAMO, acting as an agent for Ile-de-France Transport Authority (Stif), has issued a call for tender for the supply of LRV fleets for the new light rail lines T9 and T10 in southern Paris. Closing date for bids is May 4.

TRENITALIA has placed a €98m order with AnsaldoBreda for 70 additional Vivalto double-deck coaches, which will be used on regional services in Liguria, Veneto, and Lazio.

SHANGHAI Songjiang Tramway Investment and Operation Company has awarded a joint venture of Alstom and Shanghai Rail Traffic Equipment Development Company (Satco) a €72m contract to supply 30 low-floor LRVs for the first phase of the Songjiang tram network.

THE government of Luxembourg has given Luxembourg Railways (CFL) the go-ahead to order 11 additional Kiss double-deck EMUs from Stadler.

MZKT, the municipal public transport operator in the Polish city of Toruń, has awarded Pesa Bydgoszcz a Zlotys 37.8m ($US 10.2m) contract to supply five bi-directional Swing low-floor LRVs for the city's metre-gauge tram network.