THE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced on December 4 that it has approved a $US 750m package of loans to finance the construction of Lima Metro Line 2, Peru's largest-ever Public Private Partnership project.

KOREA's national passenger operator Korail has placed a Won 154.4bn ($US 138m) order with Hyundai Rotem for 22 EMUs for commuter services. The trains will be deployed on the Donghae Nambu line in southeast Korea and the new Seongnam - Yeoju Line, work on which is due to be completed by the end of 2015.

TAMPERE City Council published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union on December 1 in the first stage of procurement for the Finnish city's planned 25km light rail network.

EUROPEAN Union (EU) transport ministers adopted a set of conclusions on transport infrastructure and the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) on December 3, and reviewed progress on the political pillar of the Fourth Railway Package.

LITHUANIAN Railways (LG) has placed an order with Škoda Vagonka for an additional three class 575 1520mm-gauge double-deck City Elefant EMUs for €27.2m.

THE Kenyan parliament's Public Investment Committee (PIC) has halted a $US 41m contract awarded to a consortium led by China's Third Railway Survey and Design Institute (TSDI) to supervise construction of the Nairobi – Mombasa standard-gauge line.

THE International Public Transport Association (UITP) has urged the European Commission (EC) to prioritise public transport investment in its proposed package for jobs, growth and investment.

THE International Union of Railways (UIC) has re-elected Dr Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways (RZD), as its chairman for a second two-year term during its 85th general assembly which was held on December 3 in Paris.

THE final section of track has been laid on the first railway to serve Abuja, the Nigerian capital. Services on the 186.5km standard-gauge from Abuja north to Kaduna will start in February 2015.

THE Federal Transit Administration has pledged about $US 996m through a New Start Engineering programme grant to support a 7.6km extension of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) Green Line from Cambridge to Somerville and Medford.