ISRAEL Railways has placed a Shekels 1.5bn ($US 421.7m) contract with Alstom to maintain its fleet of IC3 dmus for seven years, with an option for an eight-year extension.

THE first two of 35 six-car Siemens Inspiro metro trains entered passenger service in Warsaw on October 6.

RENNES Métropole has awarded a €178m turnkey contract to Siemens to for the construction of the French city's second fully-automatic light metro line. This follows a contract for the first phase of studies which was placed in 2010.

THE first of seven Velaro high-speed trains ordered by Turkish State Railways (TCDD) from Siemens is currently en route to Turkey.

BRITAIN's Department for Transport (DfT) has invited bids for the first two passenger rail franchises since the cancellation of the West Coast franchise in October 2012 following the discovery of flaws in the DfT's bid evaluation process.

BRITAIN'S National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering (NSARE) announced on September 24 that approval has been granted for the development of a new training academy for rolling stock engineers, which will be built at Siemens' Kings Heath maintenance depot in Northampton.

URAL Locomotives, the Russian joint venture between Siemens and Sinara, unveiled a prototype 1520mm-gauge ac electric locomotive at the Expo 1520 exhibition in Shcherbinka near Moscow on September 12.

CALGARY Transit announced on September 11 that it has concluded a $C 192m ($US 186m) contract with Siemens Canada for 60 S200 light rail vehicles for the city's CTrain network.

SIEMENS and Russian Machines have announced that they intend to submit a joint bid in a tender for new trains for the Moscow metro, which is due to be issued by the end of the year.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) is to brand its new fleet of Siemens Desiro emus Cityjet, mimicking the successful Railjet moniker applied to its premium long-distance services.