• The New York MTA board has voted to exercise an option for 620 R160 metro cars under a contract signed in July 2002 worth $1·12bn. Alstom is to build 360 of the vehicles, with Kawasaki responsible for the remainder. All 620 bodyshells are to be fabricated at Alstom's Lapa facility in Brazil.
  • Consultation has started on a further feasibility study for a light rail route to connect Macau's casinos with the airport and ferry terminal. The 20 km line would run on a mostly elevated formation along the peninsula and out to Taipa Island. The project is expected to cost 4·2bn patacas and construction would take four years.
  • A $115m trackwork contract has been awarded to a joint venture of Twin Mountain Construction Co and Herzog Group for the Rail Runner Express commuter rail extension from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Existing BNSF track from the Rail Runner station in Sandoval County to La Bajada is to be renewed, while 29 km of new line is to be laid along a road alignment from there to St Francis Drive on the ouskirts of Santa Fe.
  • Kawasaki Heavy Industries is to extend the test track at its Harima plant in Hyogo Prefecture to facilitate trials of its Swimo nickel-hydride battery-powered test vehicle (RG 7.07 p423). The company expects to spend ¥400m adding 2 km to the track in an effort to create a realistic operating environment for the vehicle.
  • A consortium of Rotem and Mitsui is the preferred bidder to supply 70 suburban EMUs to Wellington by 2010. Terms of the final contract are the subject of negotiations between the consortium and the Greater Wellington Regional Council's rail agency, but these were expected to be completed by the end of August. The new units will complement a planned infrastructure investment programme on the city's suburban network (RG 7.07 p405).
  • On August 21, a tunnel boring machine broke through a shaft wall at the site of the future station at Triangeln in Malmö. The breakthrough marks a significant milestone in the 17 km Citytunneln project to connect the Øresund fixed link with Malmö Central via 6 km of twin-bore tunnels. Completion is expected in 2011.
  • The first Piccadilly Line train reached Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport on July 26 as the extension was handed over to London Underground by Balfour Beatty. Terminal 5 is due to open in March 2008, by which time an extension to the Heathrow Express will also have been completed
  • On July 30 BVG put into service the first of a production build of 20 small-profile U-Bahn trainsets on Line U2 in Berlin. Supplied by Bombardier, the HK06 units follow an initial prototype batch of four Series HK sets delivered in 2001. BVG expects to operate the new stock on lines U1 to U4 inclusive

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