Australia: On March 26 Melbourne’s tram route 86 was extended from Bourke & Spencer Streets along Latrobe Street line to a new terminus at Colonial Stadium.
Great Britain: In the budget on March 21, the government allocated an extra £65m to London Underground, mainly to pay for escalator repairs at a number of stations.
Egypt: The National Authority for Tunnels has invited pre-qualification bids for the 4 km extension of Cairo metro Line 2, south from the present terminus at Giza. French and Japanese groups are reported to have expressed interest in construction of the proposed Line 3.
Spain: Valencia metro operator FGV has ordered 18 trailer cars from Alstom to convert its Line 3 fleet of Series 3900 EMUs from three to four cars.
USA: On April 12 the Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority awarded a $20·6m contract to Modern Continental and HNTB for construction of the 1·1 km viaduct from Union Station to Chinatown, and voted to resume work on the long-delayed 22 km light rail line although all the financing for the $683·7m project is not yet in place. Revenue service is expected to start in July 2003.
