THE Australian federal government published its 2016-17 budget on May 3 and while transport investment is heavily skewed towards road projects, a decline in future funding for rail foreshadowed in the 2015-16 federal budget appears to have been reversed, albeit marginally.

THE state government of Western Australia has awarded the SINRW joint venture of Salini Impregilo, Italy, and local company NRW Pty a contract to design, construct and maintain the Forrestfield-Airport Link, which will connect Perth's eastern suburbs to Perth Airport.

THE government of the Australian state of Victoria published its 2016-17 budget on April 27, making provision for numerous rail projects and allocating more than $A 3.2bn ($US 2.4bn) to improve public transport.

A consortium including Lend Lease, CPB Contractors, WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff, and Aurecon has signed a $A 1.6bn ($US 1.2bn) contract with the government of the Australian state of Victoria for works associated with the upgrade of the Cranbourne-Pakenham commuter line.

GLOBAL mining company Rio Tinto said in its first-quarter operation review published on April 19 that its AutoHaul project to convert its Tom Price heavy-haul railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to driverless operation is taking longer than expected.

TRANSPORT for London has named Mr Mark Wild as the next managing director of London Underground and he will start his new role in June.

The government of the Australian state of New South Wales has announced the start of the tender process to build twin-bore railway tunnels under Sydney Harbour and the city centre for Stage 2 of the Sydney Metro project.

AUSTRALIAN prime minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull announced on April 8 that the federal government will commit $A 220m ($US 168m) towards the Murray River Basin Rail Project, which seeks to enhance freight reliability and capacity in northern Victoria.

THE government of the Australian state of Queensland has announced it will establish an authority to oversee the development of the Cross River Rail project with the aim of increasing capacity and reducing congestion on the Brisbane Citytrain network.