BRASILIA metro has completed the installation of a solar power plant at Guariroba station on the Green Line with the capacity to generate up to 288MWh of electricity per year, which is sufficient to supply all of the energy required by this station and another station of the same size.

BRAZILIAN rail freight and logistics operator Rumo has signed an agreement with GE Transportation for the installation of GE’s Trip Optimizer energy management system on its locomotive fleet.

BRAZIL will launch public consultation on September 29 for Ferrogrão, a 1142km railway linking the grain-producing region of the mid-west with the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon.

THE Brazilian city of Salvador extended its metro network to 29km on September 11, when the governor of the Brazilian state of Bahia, Mr Rui Costa, joined passengers for an inaugural trip on the 7.5km section of Line 2 between Pituaçu and Mussurunga.

SÃO Paulo Metro opened a 2.8km northeastern extension of Line 5 on September 6, adding three new stations to the city’s steadily expanding metro network.

PAULISTA Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) has finally signed a Reais 316.7m ($US 101.6m) contract with a consortium of CRRC Sifang and Brazilian company Temoinsa to supply eight eight-car trains for the Line 13, which will connect Safira station with São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport.

THE proposal to build a transcontinental railway linking Brazil and Peru - the Bi-oceanic Railway - has hit a stumbling block on the choice of the best route through Peru.

WHILE the northern section of Brazil’s North-South Railway (FNS) from Açailândia to Barcarena struggles to get off the drawing board, the northern state of Pará is moving ahead with plans for the 1316km Paraense Railway (Fepasa), which will run parallel and the to west of the FNS along the state’s eastern flank.

PAULISTA Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) says it expects to launch commercial operations on São Paulo suburban Line 13 (Jade) between Safira station on Line 12 and Guarulhos International Airport, Brazil’s busiest airport, in the first half of next year.

LIMITED operation began on the first completed strech of Fortaleza’s diesel-operated light rail Purple Line on July 25, when the governor of the Brazilian state of Cerará Mr Camilo Santana joined local residents for a first trip on the 5km Parangaba - Borges de Melo section of the route.