CONSTRUCTION is expected to begin in October on a 339km direct line linking Chongqing with Changsha, the capital of China's Hunan province, after China's Ministry of Environmental Protection approved plans for the Yuan 37.6bn ($US 6.1bn) project.
THREE German public transport authorities have published a joint tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for the Central Saxony Electric Network II (EMS II) concession, which covers the operation of around 5.7 million train-km per year on three routes.
ARGENTINA's world-famous Tren de las Nubes (Train of the Clouds) has ceased operating and concessionaire Ecotren has been stripped of its contract following a derailment in a remote area of the Andes.
THE FIRST of six 200km/h Flirt EMUs for Swedish open-access operator MTR Express left the Stadler Rail plant in Bussnang, Switzerland, on August 21 bound initially for the company's train commissioning centre in nearby Erlen.
BRITAIN's Department for Transport revealed the list of prequalified bidders on August 19 for the contracts to operate the new Northern and TransPennine Express (TPE) franchises from 2016.
THE SECOND phase of the railway network in Tibet was inaugurated on August 15 with the opening of the 253km line linking the Tibetan capital Lhasa to the region's second city Xigaze.
SAXONY-ANHALT public transport authority Nasa has awarded Veolia a one-year extension to its contract to operate the Harz-Elbe-Express (HEX) regional network, which was previously due to expire in December 2017.
GERMAN Rail (DB) has awarded a €312m contract to a joint venture of Ed Züblin and Hochtief to construct the 4270m Rastatt tunnel as part of the project to upgrade the Karlsruhe – Basle corridor for 250km/h operation.
THE mayors of nine cities in the US states of Indiana and Ohio plan to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the Northern Indiana/Ohio High Speed Rail Initiative which seeks to introduce a passenger rail service along the 480km Chicago - Columbus corridor.
SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) will spend around SFr 1.5bn ($US 1.66bn) on revamping stations, modernising infrastructure and acquiring new rolling stock for Ticino, Switzerland's southernmost canton by 2020.