This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector.
Low-speed test running on Astana’s GoA4 elevated driverless light metro system began on September 29. Operator City Transportation Systems expects the testing programme to take at least six months, with opening planned for 2026.
Officials of the State of Bahia have paid a visit to CAF’s Hortolândia factory to inspect the progress of modernisation of the 40 secondhand Urbos 3 tram vehicles for Salvador’s under-construction light rail network. Bahia State Governor Jerônimo Rodrigues has confirmed the start of revenue services on the first section in the second half of 2026.
Tunnel boring machine ‘Betty’ has broken through into a cavern deep beneath Westmead to complete the first tunnel at the western end of the 24 km Sydney Metro West line. Opening is planned for 2032.
CAF has rolled out its 1 000th Urbos tram since the family was introduced in 2006. The first entered service on Sevilla’s MetroCentro in 2010 and the trams are now operating in 38 cities in 19 countries, with CAF expecting to reach nearly 50 cities in the coming years. They have been manufactured across eight CAF plants in five countries: Beasain, Zaragoza, Irún, Linares (Spain), Bagnères-de-Bigorre (France), Newport (UK), Elmira (USA) and Dunakeszi (Hungary).
Roma public transport operator ATAC has awarded SVI a €2·7m contract to supply two shunting locomotives for metro Line B.
CAF has been awarded a maintenance contract for 27 EMUs operated by CPTM in São Paulo. The 19 Series 7000 and eight Series 7500 sets totalling 216 vehicles were originally supplied by CAF in 2009-11.
The Fare-Pay card can now be used on all NJ Transit’s buses in New Jersey as well as the Newark and Hudson-Bergen light rail lines and the River Line. The reusable cards allow customers to purchase and store monthly passes, 10-trip bus tickets or cash value on them. ‘With the expansion of Fare-Pay, we’re making it easier for customers to purchase tickets and passes with greater flexibility’, said NJ Transit President & CEO Kris Kolluri. ‘It is part of our ongoing commitment to modernise and enhance the everyday experience.’
Baku Metro has taken delivery of five four-car trainsets supplied by Metrowagonmash of Russia. They will replace older stock that is reaching the end of its service life, taking the new generation train fleet to 36 sets by the end of the year.
San Francisco Bay Area operator BART has completed the installation of Next Generation Fare Gates supplied by STraffic America at all 50 of its stations. ‘These new gates improve accessibility, safety and efficiency, and reflect BART’s commitment to investing in the future of public transit’, said BART Board Vice President Melissa Hernandez. The overall fare gate forms a barrier 1 830 mm high to deter fare evasion, and a door locking mechanism makes them hard to push through, jump over or manoeuvre under.