IN an effort to boost its financial performance, KiwiRail has announced plans to cut $NZ 200m ($US 161.5m) from expenses between 2013 and 2015.

THE credibility of KiwiRail's $NZ 4.5bn ($US 3.6bn) plan to turn the state-owned railway into a profitable business has taken a major hit after the New Zealand government minister for state-owned enterprises, Mr Tony Ryall cast doubt on KiwiRail's ability to generate the necessary revenue.

Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA) has ordered five narrow gauge locomotives to cater for increased volumes and to replace older locomotives on the 1067mm-gauge network that it manages for steel making and miner Arrium (formerly OneSteel), based in Whyalla, South Australia.

SIEMENS has been awarded a contract to supply 13 1067mm-gauge 25kV heavy-haul electric locomotives to the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), which will be used on coal trains in Queensland from 2014 onwards.

ANSALDO STS Australia has won two contracts worth a total of $A 362m ($US 371m) to supply signalling systems for Rio Tinto's heavy-haul iron-ore operations in Australia.

AUCKLAND Transport has unveiled the preferred route for the proposed City Rail Link (CRL), which will extend the existing suburban line underground to create a new link beneath the city centre.

KIWIRAIL has begun the technical and legal process to revalue its assets to better reflect the revenue they generate. Under the revaluation KiwiRail's assets are likely to be revalued at approximately $NZ 1.1-1.3bn ($US 867m-1.02bn), significantly lower than their current book value of approximately $NZ 7.8bn.

DOWNER EDI Limited has signed a five-year agreement with EMD that will see EMD manufacture all future Downer locomotive orders for the Australian market at one of its overseas facilities.

IN an effort to address conflicting proposals put forward by coal mining companies for new railways to serve the coalfields of the Galilee and Bowen Basins, the state government of Queensland has announced its preferred options for two new lines in the region.

A proposed east-west corridor would extend the QR National (QRN) narrow-gauge network from Moranbah to the central Galilee Basin, providing links to the ports of Abbot Point, Dalrymple Bay and Dudgeon Point.

The government also says it will allocate a corridor for a line that will serve several large mines proposed in the southern Galilee area. This will straddle the alignment being proposed by GVK-Hancock Coal for a new 500km standard-gauge line north to Abbot Point. These are the only two corridors where the government is likely to use its powers to compulsorily acquire land for new rail projects.

The state government says that there will be the option for other mining proponents to co-locate their own lines within the north-south corridor should they consider that to be more commercially viable. BHP Billiton has already indicated a preference for its own infrastructure.

IN a surprise move, Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has announced it will take the majority of its asset maintenance activities in-house when contracts with two alliance partners, Transfield Services and Downer Rail, expire in December 2012.