MUMBAI Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has signed contracts worth a total of Rs 181.1bn ($US 2.7bn) with five consortia for the construction of Mumbai metro Line 3, which will run for 33.5km from Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (Seepz) in the north of the city to Cuffe Parade in the southern district of Colaba.

A Franco-Indian consortium led by Systra and including Aecom, Egis Rail and Rites has been appointed general consultant for the first phase of the Nagpur metro.

DEDICATED Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has awarded a consortium led by GMR Infrastructure, India, a Rs 22.8bn ($US 430.3m) design-build contract for civil works and trackwork on a 221km section of the 1839km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), which will connect Kolkata with Ludhiana.

TESTING began on the first completed section of Delhi metro Line 8 (Magenta Line) Delhi metro network on June 8, when the first low-speed test runs took place on a 3.5km section between Kalindi Kunj depot and Okhla Vihar station.

THE World Bank has agreed to provide a $US 500m seed capital loan with a seven-year repayment moratorium to kick-start Indian Railways' (IR) station redevelopment programme, which will be financed through a combination of intergovernmental agreements and public-private partnerships.

THE Indian government has approved plans by the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) for new metro networks in Varanasi and Kanpur which should enable construction to start by the end of this year. The UP government allocated Rs 500m ($US 7.4m) to each city in its latest budget.

THE inaugural trial run of India's first metro train to be equipped for Unattended Train Operation (UTO) was flagged off by India's urban development minister Mr M Venkaiah Naidu and the chief minister of Delhi Mr Arvind Kejriwal in a ceremony at Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's Mukundpur depot on May 17.

LUCKNOW Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) has awarded a Rs 640m ($US 9.6m) contract to a consortium of Datamatics Global Services and Mikroelektronika to provide an automatic fare collection system for the Indian city's first metro line.

BANGALORE finally linked the eastern and western sections of the metro Purple Line on May 2, when the chief minister of Karnataka state Mr S Siddaramaiah and India's urban development minister Mr M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the 4.8km underground stretch between Magadi Road and MG Road.

TRIALS with variable-gauge Talgo coaches are due to begin on the Indian Railways (IR) broad-gauge network next month, with the first nine vehicles due to arrive at the port of Mumbai on April 21.