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THE government of Western Australia has approved plans for a 53km rail connection to the joint Rio Tinto/Hancock Prospecting Hope Downs 4 iron-ore mine in the Pilbara region.

THE recently-appointed chairman of California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), Mr Dan Richard, says the cost of building the planned 1100km high-speed network in the state should cost less than the $US 100bn suggested by others, including the project's critics, by adopting an incremental approach.

ISRAEL Railways has outlined plans to build a network of 11 lines totalling 475km to serve both Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank. However, construction priorities and costs have yet to be determined.

THE prospect of a direct rail link from the coal mines of Mozambique's western Tete province and the Indian Ocean port of Nacala via Malawi has moved a step closer following the signing of a build-and-operate concession agreement between the Malawian government and mining giant Vale.

EGYPTIAN National Railways (ENR) reportedly lost £E 70m ($US 11.6m) between January 28 2011 and January 12 2012 in the midst of the uprising to overthrow the regime of former president Mr Hosni Mubarak.

THE Ethiopian government has awarded China Eryuan Engineering Group a contract worth around $US 400m to build the city's 37.4km light rail network.

MORE than 23 years after construction began, Kazakhstan's first metro line finally opened on December 1, with the inauguration of Almaty Line 1.