THE FIRST of eight Siemens Avenio low-floor LRVs for Munich Transport (MVG) entered service in the city on September 17 on tram Line 19 from St Veit Strasse to Pasing Station.

ALL Aboard Florida, the inter-city passenger subsidiary of Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) has selected Siemens to supply locomotives and rolling stock for the initial phase of its passenger services which will link Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach from late 2016.

STAGECOACH has announced an order worth £210m with Siemens and train leasor Angel Trains for a fleet of 30 five-car Desiro City EMUs for its South West Trains suburban commuter services to and from London Waterloo.

With ERTMS set to be rolled out on some of Britain's busiest main lines over the next five years, testing and validation is now well underway in preparation for large-scale deployment. Keith Barrow visits Network Rail's ETCS National Integration Facility to see how the infrastructure manager is preparing for the transition.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has carried out a series of demonstration runs in western Siberia using its new-generation Lastochka (Swallow) EMU, the first appearance of the type east of the Urals.

STADTWERKE Ulm (SWU) has selected Siemens as preferred supplier for a €31m contract to supply 12 low-floor LRVs for the expansion of the metre-gauge tram network in the German city.

THE prime minister of Turkey, Mr Recep Erdogan, officially opened the 245km Eskişehir – Istanbul section of the 533km Ankara – Istanbul high-speed line on July 25.

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) announced on July 15 that four bidders have been shortlisted for a contract to supply at least 39 new trains for the London Overground network.

SAN FRANCISCO Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) has recommended awarding a contract worth up to $US 1.2bn to Siemens for up to 260 S200 SF LRVs, which will replace the city's ageing Breda trams and expand the fleet for the opening of the Central Subway line.

VIENNESE public transport operator Wiener Linien has concluded a 10-month trial using a Siemens ULF light rail vehicle, which has been specially adapted with energy-saving technologies as part of the EcoTram research project.