BAY Area Rapid Transit (Bart) is starting dynamic testing of the first of 775 Fleet of the Future metro cars being built by Bombardier under a $US 2.5bn contract following arrival of the first car in San Francisco on April 6.

THE first Siemens USA Charger passenger locomotive was revealed during a visit by US Federal Railroad Administrator Mrs Sarah Feinberg to the company's Sacramento plant on March 25.

THE first two vehicles from a fleet of 20 four-car driverless trains being built by Hitachi Rail Italy (HRI) for the Honolulu metro arrived in Hawaii on March 24.

OKLAHOMA City Council voted on March 22 to award a $US 24.9m contract for five low-floor LRVs for the Oklahoma City Streetcar project to Brookville Equipment, United States.

HITACHI Rail USA officially opened its new 13,000m2 rail vehicle assembly plant at Medley, Florida, on March 16, when the mayor of Miami-Dade County Mr Carlos Gimenez inaugurated the facility with the unveiling of a full-size mock up of the new metro train for Miami Metrorail.

THE board of Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) voted on March 9 to award CSR Sifang America JV, a subsidiary of China's CRRC Corporation, a contract to supply up to 846 metro cars, which will be assembled at a purpose-built facility in the city.

A draft study evaluating high-capacity transit options for the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the University of Michigan has recommended light rail for the project.  

LOS Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) opened a $US 1bn 18.5km extension to the Gold Line light rail line on March 5 which also marked the entry into service of the first of a fleet of 21 LRVs supplied by Kinkisharyo.

HARSCO Rail's track maintenance business unit has won two separate contracts worth around $US 10m to renew track in the New York area.

A pre-feasibility study by the University of Calgary's Van Horne Institute suggests that it would be feasible to build a railway to transport bitumen and minerals between the Canadian province of Alberta and the US state of Alaska.