LATVIAN Railways (LDZ) has selected a consortium of Bombardier and Belam Riga to deliver Bombardier's Interflo 200 mainline signalling system on a section of the Bolderaja - Zasulauks line which connects the capital Riga with the Bolderaja and Riga harbour area. The contract is worth Lats 9.5m ($US 17.9m), including a Lats 3.7m share for Bombardier.

INVENSYS Rail Dimetronic has begun dynamic testing of the signalling system on the initial 4.3km section of Singapore's Downtown Line between Chinatown and Bugis in preparation for the start of commercial services in October.

DANISH infrastructure manager Banedanmark has commissioned Siemens to equip 840 rail vehicles with GSM-R technology in an order worth €20m.

THE Australian government has allocated $A 95m ($US 90m) to Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to support investment in reliability and capacity upgrades on the Adelaide – Perth rail corridor.

ITALIAN Railway Network (RFI) has awarded a €176m contract to supply and install electrical and mechanical equipment on the Treviglio – Brescia high-speed line to Consorzio Saturno, a consortium of Ansaldo STS, Alstom, Balfour Beatty Rail, and Sirti.

POLISH infrastructure manager PKP PLK has awarded a consortium of Bombardier (ZWUS) Poland, Thales Poland, and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) a Zlotys 470m ($US 153m) contract for the country's first commercial ERTMS Level 2 installation.

BRITAIN's infrastructure manager Network Rail has placed signalling contracts valued at £34.75m with Signalling Solutions, the British joint venture of Alstom and Balfour Beatty.

MTR Corporation has awarded two contracts to supply rolling stock and signalling systems for the Shatin – Central Link (SCL), which will establish a new north – south corridor across Hong Kong.

LARSEN & Toubro, the Indian contractor responsible for construction of the initial phase of the Hyderabad metro has awarded Thales a contract worth around Rs 7.4bn ($US 134.3m) to provide CBTC and integrated communications and supervision systems on all three lines.

QUEEN Beatrix of the Netherlands officially inaugurated the 50km Hanze Line at Lelystad station today. The queen then boarded the royal train for Zwolle stopping en route at Dronten and Kampen South.