São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes signed the launch of a public consultation and the expression of interest procedure for the preparation of projects, surveys and technical, operational, economic-financial and legal-institutional feasibility studies that assist the city hall in feasibility of designing, implementing, operating and maintaining a two-line, 12 km long circular tram network in São Paulo. The city hall is aiming to use hydrogen-powered trams.
On February 6 transport authority Ile-de-France Mobilités announced plans to place a €1·1bn order for a further 103 Alstom MF19 trainsets which would be delivered in 2027-29 for use on Paris metro lines 8, 12 and 13. Metro Report International understands that the order has not yet been finalised with Alstom and operator RATP.
Moskva Metro reports that it reduced headways by 15-22 sec down to ‘about 80 sec’ during testing of a new control system on Line 5. It said this is the shortest interval between trains on a non-automated metro worldwide.
The project to develop a 23 km light rail line between Vernon and Artesia in southeast Los Angeles County has been renamed as the Southeast Gateway Line. It was previously known as the West Santa Ana Branch Corridor Project after a former Pacific Electric right-of-way, but LA Metro said this was causing confusion as it will not run to Santa Ana. Opening is planned for 2035, when it will be designated with a letter and colour.
On February 5, the USA’s Federal Transit Administration has announced a $110m funding though its Public Transportation Emergency Relief Programme to eight public transportation providers and state departments of transportation in six states and one territory to help agencies repair damaged equipment and facilities, recoup costs for evacuation and rescue operations following floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes that occurred in 2017 and 2020-22, as well as to reimburse transit agencies for the costs of evacuating people during storms, rescue operations, and providing temporary public transportation service, and to reestablish, expand, or relocate service before, during or after an emergency.
On February 5 a trial run was conducted on the 3·3 km southbound extension of Pune metro Purple Line from Civil Court to Swargate. This stretch includes a crossing under the Mutha River.
The city of Minsk has joined the Moskva Metro-backed UrbanTransportData project which was launched in August 2023. The Russian operator says the international analytical platform is ‘collecting, analysing, visualising and publishing’ transport indicators from cities including Beijing and Manila to help ‘create a transport system in each that is convenient for citizens’. In July 2021, Moskva Metro and UITP had established a CityTransitData hub outlining key public transport metrics for various cities.