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PLANS have been unveiled for a network of four light rail lines totalling 214km serving an area to the south of Moscow. The Southern Chord network will extend the reach of the Moscow metro and connect the airports of Domodedovo to the south and Vnukovo to the west.

FINNISH rolling stock company Junskalusto Oy has exercised an option under a contract originally awarded to Stadler in 2006 for nine new Flirt trains worth Euros 54m. The trains will be introduced on a line being built to serve Helsinki Airport which is due to open in 2014.

BAY Area Rapid Transit's (Bart) proposed Silicon Valley extension took a major step forward on December 8, when the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) board voted unanimously to award a joint venture of Skanska, Shimmick, and Herzog a $US 772m design-build contract for the 16.1km Warm Springs to Berryessa line.

Independent Transport Company (ITC) won the battle to secure a 75% minus two shares stake in Russian Railways (RZD) subsidiary Freight One on October 28. Yuri Saakyan, director of the General Institute for Natural Monopolies Research, Russia, considers the history and prospects for Russia’s largest single owner and manager of freight wagons.

THE lack of integration between national booking systems can be a major obstacle to cross-border rail travel. Philip Martin, head of marketing for Amadeus Rail tells Keith Barrow why standardising distribution networks will be a crucial step towards achieving the European Commission’s targets for increasing rail’s modal share.

IRJ at AusRail Plus 2011, Brisbane: UGL and GE Transportation today launched their new 1067mm-gauge PowerHaul Series diesel-electric locomotive which is designed for heavy-haul and freight operations across Queensland and Western Australia's narrow-gauge networks.

IRJ at AusRail Plus 2011, Brisbane: AusRail was the venue for today's launch of the TrackSafe Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation aiming to reduce level crossing, trespass and suicide incidents, and industry employee trauma on Australia's rail network. Developed over two years TrackSafe aims to harness the current effort and resources of rail operators, police, emergency services, health professionals and the community to achieve this goal.

THE United States Bureau of Land Management has granted DersertXpress approval for the alignment of the proposed high-speed line from Victorville, California, to Las Vegas.

AN investigation by the Chinese government into July's collision between two high-speed trains near Wenzhou, which killed 40 people and injured more than 200, has concluded that "poor management of the local railway administration" was to blame, according to a report in the state-controlled Beijing News.

BRITISH franchise operator East Coast has issued a tender for a new train maintenance management system which the operator says will help to cut waste and boost performance on its more than 150 daily East Coast Mainline services from London to north of England and Scotland.