John Stewart

THE Japan International Cooperation Agency has signed a Yen 18bn ($US 223m) loan agreement with the Uzbek government to fund the electrification of the 325km line from Karshi to Baysun and Termez in the south of the country.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan for the construction of a $US 2.4bn railway, according to provincial governor Mr Awang Faroek.

TALKS started last month between a group of 20 private companies and the Bahrain government regarding a build, operate, transfer (BOT) scheme to build a 90km, 350km/h railway from the Bahrain capital Manamah to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which is the terminal of the existing line from Riyadh.

THE higher committee of Kuwait's Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has approved the feasibility study for Kuwait City's proposed metro network, and will invite expressions of interest (EOI) soon for the systems and rolling stock contract.