Austria: Wiener Linien has placed a €135m order for 15 six-car metro trainsets with a consortium of Siemens, Bombardier and Elin EBG Traction. It is a second option on an agreement signed in 1998, with delivery scheduled for 2009-11.
Chile: On December 10 weekday express services were introduced between Plaza de Puente Alto and Tobalaba on Santiago Line 4. Similar services in the opposite direction were introduced previously to increase morning peak capacity (RG 11.07 p679).
China: Bombardier has completed the installation of a €70m two-station 2 km automatic peoplemover serving Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport. It has 11 CX-100 cars, and is expected to begin carrying passengers in March.
Czech Republic: Praha transport authority began trials of multi-modal SMS ticketing by mobile phone during November.
France: A 2·5 km three-stop extension of Strasbourg tram Line E from Wacken to the European Parliament and Robertsau Boecklin opened on November 23.
Germany: A 900 m extension of Nürnberg metro Line 1 from Klinikum Fürth to Hardhöhe opened on December 9.
India: Delhi Metro Rail Corp has awarded Larsen & Toubro and Shanghai Urban Construction Corp an Rs2·75bn design and build contract covering 1·6 km of bored and 0·8 km of cut-and-cover tunnel to extend Line 3 from Dwarka Sector 21 to Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Malaysia: On November 28 Kuala Lumpur transport holding company Syarikat Prasarana Negara signed an agreement to purchase KL Monorail and take over the 40-year concession to operate the elevated line.
Poland: On December 6 the Ministry of Infrastructure signed contracts to finance its share of the 858m zloty four-station extension of Warszawa metro Line 1 by 3·9 km from Marymont to Mlociny. The EU is providing 320m zloty.
Russia: On November 4 Skoda signed a contract to supply Metrovagonmash with electrical equipment for a prototype six-car metro train to be built for St Petersburg during 2008. Series production of 300 vehicles is planned for 2009.
Switzerland: On December 4 Bombardier announced a €45m follow-on order from Zürich tram operator VBZ for a further 14 Cobra trams to be delivered between June 2009 and March 2010, bringing the total order to 88 cars. Bogies and brake systems are being supplied by Alstom.
Thailand: Bombardier announced on December 5 that it is to supply Mitrac propulsion and control equipment worth US$20m for the 48 metro cars which Changchun Railway Vehicles Co is building for Bangkok's Skytrain under a US$70m contract signed in July (RG 8.07 p468).
UK: Greater Manchester PTE announced on November 21 that it has increased its order for Bombardier trams from eight to 12 vehicles. They are needed for a 400 m branch from the Eccles line which will serve the BBC's northern headquarters at the mediacity:uk development from 2010.
USA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's board of directors has voted unanimously to renew the operating contract of Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co which expired on July 1. The $700m deal was limited to three years rather than another five-year period.
- CAPTION: Trams have returned to Nice with the opening of the first 8·7 km section of a planned 36 km network on November 24 (RG 10.07 p646). The 20 Alstom Citadis 302 trams switch between overhead and battery power for 435 m across Place Masséna and 485 m across Place Garibaldi
