THE French Railway Safety Board (ESPF) has granted an authorisation for the operation of the 200km/h variant of Bombardier’s Régio 2N double-deck EMU for operation on the French main line network.

AN ACS Group/Hochtief-led consortium has reached financial close on a $US 4.9bn public-private partnership (PPP) contract with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) to design, build, finance, operate and maintain an automated peoplemover (APM) at Los Angeles Airport, the fifth busiest airport in the world.

ILE-de France Mobility, which is responsible for public transport in the Paris region, has unveiled the design for its fleet of RER New Generation (NG) trains which form part of its ambitious plans to replace or renovate more than 700 trains between 2016 and 2021.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has agreed with French leasing company Akiem to sell and lease back 45 class 186 Traxx MS2 four-voltage locomotives.

BOMBARDIER has presented its new Traxx DC3 locomotive to leading Italian operators at its Vado Ligure plant in northwest Italy.

THE ranking of the world’s largest railway equipment suppliers is set to change when the agreed merger between GE Transportation and Wabtec comes into force, according to analysis by IRJ.

SCI Verkehr says in its latest Multiple Units - Global Market Trends study that the world market for regional and suburban multiple unit trains is currently worth more than €9bn and is growing at around 9% per year, while the €8bn aftersales market has an annual growth rate of 4%.

THE first Bombardier Traxx MS2E locomotive for RegioJet entered passenger service with the Czech open-access operator on May 16, working the 17.48 Prague Hlavní - Ostrava - Návsí service.

BOMBARDIER has launched a real-time passenger load display on Singapore’s Downtown Line (DTL) using the line’s existing Train Control Monitoring System (TCMS) following the completion of testing by Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA).

BRUSSELS Transport Company (Stib) signed a framework contract with Bombardier on April 24 for up to 175 Flexity low-floor LRVs with an initial order for 60 vehicles worth €169m.