n Indian Railway Construction Corp is negotiating for a five-year contract to refurbish and maintain 15 Malaysian Railways Class 22 diesel locos of 1750hp, following an earlier contract to refurbish 12 of the class.

n Research consortium GasRail USA is to equip a Los Angeles Metrolink F59PHI diesel loco with a late-cycle high-injection pressure combustion system developed by Moog Controls as part of a programme to develop natural gas fuelled locos with low exhaust emissions.

n Istanbul municipality’s transport agency has shortlisted three bidders for supply of 96 EMU cars to work the Taksim - 4 Levent metro line now scheduled for completion by the end of next year. Lowest bidder was Adtranz Sweden, followed by Bombardier of Canada and GEC Alsthom.

n Atlanta public transport agency Marta has launched studies for a 24 km metro, light rail or monorail link from Lindbergh Center metro station to South DeKalb, serving three colleges, a medical centre and a major commercial zone.

n Look for delivery of the first 200 km/h Gardermobanen airport express EMU to Norwegian State Railway this month; the three-car unit was shipped from the Adtranz Strømmens works to the Västerås test track on August 16.

n Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport & Communications has shortlisted five bidders for construction of a 40 km rail link from Taipei to Chiang Kai-Shek International airport at a cost of around NT$50bn. The winning bidder is due to be announced on November 21, with the line opening by 2003.

n This month is due to see the rollout of the first double-deck TER2N EMU for French National Railways services in the Nord Pas-de-Calais région; 76 units are to be supplied by GEC Alsthom and Bombardier Eurorail’s ANF Industrie for three régions before the end of 1999.

n Governor of the Philippines province of Sorsogon, Juan Frivaldo, has called for international funding to build a 134 km rail link between the provincial capital Matnog and PNR’s Main Line South at Comun in Albay province; a feasibility study suggests that the 4·5bn pesos project could be viable as a build-operate-transfer concession.

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