MTR, Hong Kong, has selected Alstom in a €41m contract to build, install, test, and commission 11km of double track, which includes a depot and sidings, as well as 25kV ac overhead electrification for the Shatin-Central Link project in Hong Kong.

ECUADOR's National Pre-investment Institute (INP) has awarded Barcelona metro operator TMB a contract worth around $US 1.4m to carry out a prefeasibility study into the construction of an electrified freight network linking key industrial and mining centres with ports on the country's Pacific coast.

BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) has selected four preferred suppliers for contracts worth £1.2bn which will cover almost half of its investments in London and the southeast of England during the 2014-19 funding period.

SIEMENS Rail Automation has completed a three-month project to equip the fleet of 135 trains used on the Copenhagen S-Train network with GSM-R cab radio equipment.

REGIONAL train services across a large area of eastern Switzerland were stepped up on December 15 with a major expansion of the St Gallen S-Bahn network.

A GROUP of 17 Danish municipalities are calling for improvements to cross-border train services between eastern Jutland and northern Germany after a study carried out by Atkins concluded that significant improvements could be made in journey times on the Århus – Hamburg corridor without major investment in infrastructure.

THE first of 11 Citadis 402 low-floor LRVs for Dubai's Al Sufouh Tramway arrived in the United Arab Emirates through the port of Jebel Ali last week, and has been delivered to the line's depot in readiness for the start of testing.

THE European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee (Tran) voted on December 17 to adopt a series of amendments on the six legislative proposals forming the Fourth Railway Package.

THREE consortia have submitted bids to the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, for the $C 536m ($US 505m) PPP contract to design, build, operate, and maintain the city's first light rail line.

TRENITALIA signed a €139.6m contract with Pesa Bydgoszcz on December 12 for 40 ATR 220 Atribo regional dmus, which will be delivered from December 2014 onwards.