OPERATIONAL testing began on the Riyadh metro network on April 4, when a two-car Alstom Metropolis train for the Purple Line (Line 6) ran under its own power.

ALSTOM has announced orders for 25 140km/h two-car Coradia Lint regional DMUs with operators in southern Germany in deals worth a combined €116m.

THE merger of Siemens’ mobility business and Alstom reached a milestone on March 23 with the signing of a Business Combination Agreement (BCA) setting out terms and conditions agreed by the two companies for the combination.

TRENITALIA has exercised four options with Alstom worth a total of around €330m for 54 additional Pop regional EMUs.

FRANCE’s minister of economy and finance Mr Bruno Le Maire confirmed on March 22 that French National Railways (SNCF) will place an order for 100 next-generation TGVs with Alstom within the next three months.

NORWAY’s ERTMS programme reached an important milestone on March 14, when the board of infrastructure manager Bane Nor voted to award contracts to Siemens and Alstom for the rollout of ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 across most of the 4114km national network by 2034.

INDIAN Railways (IR) has received five bids from international suppliers for a contract worth around Rs 50bn ($US 800m) to supply 200 6.7MW electric locomotives for the 1534km Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

GERMAN regional operator Hessen State Railways has published an announcement in the Official Journal of the European Union confirming that it has exercised an option with Alstom Germany for five additional four-car class 1440 Coradia Continental EMUs.

BARCELONA Metropolitan Transport (TMB) has decided to award two contracts for 12 five-car trains worth €92m to CAF and Alstom to increase capacity on the metro by up to 20%. Delivery is scheduled to start in the second half of 2019.

ALSTOM has agreed to purchase onboard Wi-Fi and infotainment specialist 21net, Belgium, from the Innovacom fund and other investors for an undisclosed sum. The sale will be completed within one month.