Brazil: Cobrasma has closed after deteriorating finances led to accumulated debt of at least R$400m; the firm only left receivership in 1994.
Canada: Bombardier Inc has bought NorRail Inc of Buffalo to develop a wagon leasing business in North America as part of Bombardier Capital.
Czech Republic: IFE AG of Austria has bought Hady Metall AG from Berndorf AG. Hady Metall manufactures door and window components.
France: Les Appareils Ferroviaires has bought British semi-automatic coupling manufacturer Lloyd ABC Couplers, which supplies east Africa, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Germany: Schaltbau AG has bought coupling specialist Fabeg GmbH from the Adtranz group.Great Britain: The British Railways Board has completed sale of two further subsidiaries: BR Business Systems has been sold to Serma Group plc, and National Rail Supplies to a management buy-out.
Mexico: Trinity Industries and Grupo Acerero del Norte with Durango state government have agreed to renovate a workshop in Durango to provide wagon building and repair services.
Netherlands: The proposed merger between NS Wisselbouwbedrijf and Kloos Railway Systems has been called off; NS is now seeking another potential partner.
USA: Westcode Inc has signed a technology transfer agreement with Mitsubishi Electric Corp to build air-conditioning for the North American market.
