ETIHAD Rail, the developer and future operator of the United Arab Emirates' railway network, has secured a $US 1.28bn loan to finance Stage One of its inaugural project to build the 264km dedicated freight route from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais.
ISRAEL's transport minister Mr Yisrael Katz has announced on February 11 that the final 60km section of alignment for the new line from Be'er Sheva to the Gulf of Aqaba port of Eilat has been approved.
TURKEY's Ministry of Transport has awarded Italian State Railways subsidiary Italferr a contract worth around €1.5m to carry out studies into the construction of a new rail link between Ankara and Esenboga International Airport.
Iran is currently engaged in a major programme of railway construction which will significantly improve links with its neighbours. Mr Taleb Zare, acting president and board member of Iranian Islamic Republic Railways (RAI) talks to Keith Barrow about how this investment is transforming the network.
In recent years the Jordanian government has advanced plans for a national railway network which will link Iraq with the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia with Syria, Turkey, and Europe. Keith Barrow reports from Amman on how this major regional project is moving forward.
HABTOOR Leighton Group (HLG), the civil works contractor building Qatar's Education City light rail line, has awarded Rail.One a contract to supply its Rheda City ballastless track system for the project.
A tripartite memorandum of understanding was signed in Yerevan on January 24 concerning the construction of the Southern Armenia Railway, which will form part of a new north-south corridor linking the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf.
GE has announced it is to expand its strategic partnership with Tülomsaş, which will see the Turkish manufacturer become the main supplier of PowerHaul diesel locomotives for Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa.
PROVISIONAL traffic figures for December 2012 show that about 4 million Israelis travelled by train, which means that for the first time ever annual passenger traffic exceeded 40 million journeys.
A BIDDERS conference held in Tel Aviv today by NTA for a tender for a fleet of LRVs was attended by representatives from 22 companies from Israel and several European countries.
