LOWER Saxony Transport Authority has awarded Bombardier a contract to maintain and service Twindexx Vario double-deck coaches and Traxx locomotives up to 2035, and also to become the vehicles registered keeper.

A new generation of rolling stock entered passenger service on Vancouver’s SkyTrain driverless light metro network on the morning of August 18, when Mr Kevin Desmond, CEO of transport authority TransLink and British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC) president and general manager Mrs Vivienne King welcomed passengers on board the first Mark III train at Waterfront station.

BRITAIN’s Department for Transport (DfT) announced on August 10 that Abellio has been selected as preferred bidder for the new East Anglia franchise, which begins in October, in a deal which includes more frequent and faster services and wholesale renewal of the train fleet within four years.

BOMBARDIER and Ericsson have completed trials with LTE on networks with trains operating at speeds of up to 200km/h.

FIVE manufacturers have submitted bids to Spanish national train operator Renfe for a contract to supply a fleet of high-speed trains after a previous tender was abandoned following a judicial appeal by Bombardier.

TORONTO and Hamilton transport authority Metrolinx has purchased an additional 125 Bombardier double-deck coaches for the the Go Transit commuter rail network in a deal worth $C 428m ($US 328m).

THE first class 345 Aventra commuter EMU for London’s east-west Crossrail link was unveiled to the press by Bombardier and Transport for London (TfL) at Bombardier’s Derby plant on July 29.

UKRAINIAN Railways (UZ) and Bombardier have pledged to explore the possibility of jointly producing locomotives in Ukraine under a memorandum of understanding which was signed in Kiev on July 11 by UZ chairman Mr Wojciech Balczun, Bombardier director of business development Mr Flavio Canetti, and Mr Erwin Gerber, head of the company's locomotives business unit, in the presence of Canadian minister of international trade Mrs Chrystia Freeland, and Ukrainian infrastrcuture minister Mr Volodymyr Omelyan.

Despite some delays, construction of Jakarta's first metro line is nearing the halfway mark. Dono Boestami, president and director of MRT Jakarta, updates Kevin Smith on progress so far and outlines plans for further rapid transit development in the Indonesian capital.