France: A ceremony to mark the official start of work on Rennes’ 12 km VAL mini-metro was due to take place on January 6.
Germany: Stadtwerke Mainz AG has taken delivery of the first of 16 GT6M-ZR 100% low-floor light rail cars from Adtranz; they will be used on the Finthen - Hechtsheim route.
Great Britain: Altram consortium of Ansaldo Trasporti, John Laing and Serco Group, has announced plans to build another seven light rail vehicles as part of its 17-year concession to build a 7 km extension to Manchester’s Metrolink, and operate the entire light rail network.
London Underground has prequalified three consortia for its Connect radio communication project. They are Gensys, led by GPT, and consortia led by Racal/BRT and BT.
Iran: Alcatel SEL has won a US$20m contract for signalling equipment for Tehran metro Line 1.
Mexico: On November 26 Bombardier-Concarril announced that it had won a US$131·5m contract to refurbish 28 nine-car MP-68 rubber-tyred Mexico City metro sets, plus four spare cars; work will be carried out at Bombardier-Concarril’s Sahagun works, with delivery of reconditioned sets over two years from autumn this year.
USA: Raytheon Infrastructure Services Inc has ordered a US$17m microprocessor-based train control system from Harmon Industries Inc, providing automatic train identification for the initial Bayonne - Hoboken section of New Jersey’s Hudson - Bergen light rail line.
Bids are due in February for construction and equipping of a standard gauge fully automated mini-metro linking Jamaica and Howard Beach stations with New York’s JFK airport.
Philadelphia’s Market - Frankford line has restored evening and weekend services following completion of a $326m redecking of a steel viaduct.
