THE first of 19 Avenio low-floor LRVs being supplied by Siemens for Qatar's Education City light rail line has left the company's test centre at Wildenrath in northwest Germany on the first stage of its journey to the Gulf.

TALGO confirmed in a statement to the Spanish Exchange Commission on July 15 that Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) has cancelled a $US 201m order for six 13-car diesel trains for Riyadh – Dammam services.

OMAN's Ministry of Transport and Communications has held discussions with banks and financial advisors on the possibility of using PPPs to finance construction of the more profitable sections of the country's national rail network.

WORK on Line 1 of the Riyadh Metro took a significant step forward this week when the first tunnel boring machine (TBM), Mneefah, named after the horse of the founding King of Saudi Arabia, began its journey beneath the Saudi capital.

IRJ at the UIC High-Speed Rail World Congress, Tokyo: CONSTRUCTION of Saudi Arabia's Haramain high-speed line is back on schedule and services will be running on the entire route within 18 months, according to Renfe, which will operate the 450km line from Mecca to Jeddah and Medina.

A joint venture of Isolux Corsan, Spain, Turkish construction company Kolin, and Haif Contracting, Saudi Arabia, has been selected as preferred bidder for a contract to carry out civil works on two sections of the initial 44km phase of the metro network in the Saudi Arabian holy city of Mecca.

THE Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia) and the metro authorities from the cities of Jeddah and Mecca are in the final stages of producing a joint request for proposals (RFP) for the Mecca and Jeddah metro projects.

OMAN Rail, which is developing the country's 2135km railway network, has issued an open tender for the selection of a freight and network operations and maintenance partner.

IRANIAN Islamic Republic Railways (RAI) has appointed Italcertifer, Italy, to provide technical assistance for a project to develop a rolling stock testing laboratory, which will support the introduction of new train fleets on the country's expanding railway network.

RATP Group subsidiary RATP Dev has signed an agreement with Zain Capital, which is part of the Lakhraim Business Group, to establish a joint venture that will target some of the United Arab Emirates' largest transport and urban planning projects.