MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries (MHI) has started construction of what it describes as Japan's first comprehensive railway system verification facility.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has awarded a Bombardier-led consortium a Rand 1.1bn ($US 122m) contract to carry out resignalling of MetroRail KwaZulu Natal commuter lines in the Durban area.

FUNKWERK has secured a contract from Hamburger Hochbahn, the operator of Hamburg's U-Bahn network, to install its Alister SIL 2 electronic interlocking for depot control at the Barmbek depot. Commissioning is scheduled for November 15.

SPANISH infrastructure manager Adif and Alstom have signed an agreement to develop a new dual-gauge signalling system for 1668mm-gauge and 1435mm-gauge trains operating on the same tracks.

Belgium's infrastructure manager Infrabel is pushing ahead with a €2bn national ETCS rollout programme over the next decade. Kevin Smith examines the project.

Indian Railways and its suppliers are making radical progress with a new train protection system designed to significantly reduce the risk of collisions on the country's increasingly-crowded network. Madhu Vatyam, general manager of HBL Power Systems, India, outlines the development of TCAS.

REPRESENTATIVES from the United States' leading freight railways told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) during a conference in Washington, DC, this week that a full implementation of Positive Train Control on around 96,500km of track will not be possible by the federally-mandated deadline of 2015.

ALSTOM and Thales have been selected by JR East to negotiate a contract to install communications-based train control (CBTC) on the Ayase - Toride Joban Local suburban line in Tokyo with a view to awarding a contract to one of the companies in December. JR East plans to introduce CBTC on the line in about 2020.

POLAND's infrastructure manager PKP PLK has awarded a €35m contract to Bombardier to install ERTMS Level 2 on the 148km Legnica – Wroclaw – Opole line.

INVENSYS Rail has been awarded a $A 39m ($US 40.6m) turnkey contract by South Australia's Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to install ERTMS signalling and train control on Adelaide's commuter rail network as part of the Adelaide Rail Revitalisation programme.