Deep beneath the streets of Espoo, Finland's second city, the finishing touches are being applied to the first phase of West Metro, the country's largest infrastructure project. Keith Barrow profiles the project and assesses its impact on public transport in the region.

Finland's capital has drawn up an ambitious long-term urban plan which seeks to accommodate population and employment growth while halting urban sprawl and reducing carbon emissions. Keith Barrow looks at why rail is central to this bold vision of a 21st century city.

A life-size mock-up of the fleet of LRVs being built by CAF for LuxTram was put on show on December 7 in Luxembourg. The mock-up will remain on view until January 31.

REPRESENTATIVES of Dunakeszi Railway Works, Hungary, and CAF signed a contract on November 4 to localise the final assembly of CAF Urbos LRVs for Budapest Transport Company (BKV).

THE eight new CAF EDU ATR365 trains for Sardinia will enter service with the start of the 2016 timetable on December 13 after Italy's Agency for National Railway Safety certified the trains for operation.

SPANISH national train operator Renfe has launched its first open tender for high-speed trains in a decade, inviting bids for a €1.1bn-€2.6bn framework contract to supply up to 30 new sets with a maximum speed of 320 km/h.

CINCINNATTI Streetcar marked a milestone in the project to return trams to the city's streets on November 10, when the first of five LRVs being supplied by CAF ran under its own power for the first time on the 5.8km line.

CAF has presented the first of 185 metro cars for Santiago to Chilean minister for transport and telecommunications Mr Andrés Gómes-Lobo and Santiago Metro president Mr Rodrigo Azócar at its Bessain plant in northern Spain.

CAF's third-quarter profits for the period ending September 30 have been adversely affected by unfavourable exchange rate fluctuations and particularly the devaluation of the Brazilian Real against the euro.

PUBLIC services have resumed on Stockholm's Lidingö Line following the completion of a two-year project to comprehensively rebuild the 9.1km former suburban railway as a tram line.