Belgium:De Lijn has placed a €21m order with Siemens and Bombardier for an additional six unidirectional and four bidirectional low-floor trams. In 2007 there will be 112 of the vehicles in service in Antwerpen, Gent and along the coast.
China: Alcatel has signed a €12m agreement to supply KCR with SelTrac CBTC for the HK$8·3bn Kowloon Southern Link extension of West Rail by 3·8 km from Nam Cheong to East Tsim Sha Tsui. KCR will carry out the installation, testing and commissioning.
Indonesia: The government expects to allocate funding this year for an initial metro line in Jakarta, running from Kota in the west of the city to Lebak Bulus in the south. It plans to allocate ´85bn from a Japanese loan to meet 85% of the cost.
Israel: Jerusalem tram concessionaire City Pass has received its first two US$30m loan instalments from the Leumi and Hapoalim banks. Under the financial agreements signed in January, the banks will provide City Pass with short-term loans totalling €290m and long-term loans worth €70m.
Spain: To accommodate 700 new metro trainsets and 70 LRVs, Madrid Metro is to build six rolling stock maintenance depots at a cost of €356m. Existing facilities at Cuatro Caminos and Laguna will be extended.
Switzerland: Services on Lausanne's 1·8 km rack metro were suspended on January 22 to allow the Ouchy - Flon line to be rebuilt with VAL technology, and extended to Les Croisettes by 2008.
United Kingdom: Mowlem Railways has awarded Balfour Beatty Rail Signalling a £1·4m contract to design and install signalling equipment at the Docklands Light Railway Beckton depot by September.
UAE: On February 14 Anwar Sger, director of the City of Arabia development, said that negotiations are underway with Bombardier and Malaysian firm Mtrans for a proposed 16 km light metro with 14 stations to link the development to the planned Dubai Metro. The cost is put at 587m dirhams.
USA: Los Angeles MTA began operating peak-hour express services on the Metro Gold Line on February 12, cutting 5min from the Union Station - Pasadena journey by calling at only three intermediate stations.
Emerald Mole began boring a 1·6 km tunnel through Beacon Hill for Seattle's CentralLink light rail line on January 18. The Mitsubishi TBM is operated by contractor Obayashi Corp and is due to finish the work in 2007.
Orthstar has won a $1·3m contract to supply PATH with a full-motion driver training simulator, replicating the cabs of the PA-5 trains being built by Kawasaki for $499m.
