On May 30 Metrowagonmash unveiled the design of 28 metro cars for Minsk which were ordered last year and are currently under production in Mytishchi.
On June 3 Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced that the government would fund the US$35m purchase of five electric multiple-units which national operator EFE will use to increase capacity on the Limache – Puerto suburban service in the Valparaíso area. The EMUs are to be compatible with the current fleet and are scheduled to enter service in the first half of 2026.
Zürich operator VBZ has placed a firm order for Alstom to supply a further 12 Flexity trams by spring 2028. This means VBZ has now exercised options to buy 122 of the 140 trams agreed under a 2017 framework agreement.
Škoda Group delivered the first of 22 low-floor 47T trams to Cottbus on June 6. They were ordered in 2021 to replace the city’s fleet of ageing Tatra cars, and are scheduled to enter service in December.
Sinara Urban Transport has started tracklaying on a 7·3 km tramway extension from Zapadnoye depot to the German Village area west of Krasnodar. SUT is building 17·8 km of new double-track tramway and supplying 100 vehicles under a 2022 concession agreement worth an estimated 28·4bn roubles.
Basel area operator BLT announced on May 23 that GSP Beograd had decided not to pursue the purchase of 50 Schindler trams, and would instead acquire new vehicles. BLT is now dismantling four of the vehicles as it needs space in its depot, and is investigating the donation of 20 others to Lviv.
On June 10 CAF delivered the carbody for the first of 51 trams which Budapest ordered in 2022-23 under a 2014 framework agreement. They are to be assembled under the supervision of CAF staff with ‘significant domestic added value’ at BKV’s Vasúti Járműjavító workshop.
Moskva Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Russia for the implementation of digital rouble payments across the city’s transport network once the national digital currency is widely adopted. There is also an agreement for Russia’s first ‘smart contract’ for insuring rolling stock using a computer algorithm that independently monitors the fulfilment of contractual obligations.