BANGLADESH Railway (BR) has awarded a Rs 200m ($US 3m) contract to Barsyl, India, to conduct detailed design and construction supervision for the rehabilitation of the Kulaura - Shahbazpur line.

CROATIAN rail infrastructure manager HŽ Infrastruktura has issued an invitation to tender for a contract for upgrading and track-doubling on the 36km Dugo Selo - Križevci section of the line from Zagreb to Koprivnica and the border with Hungary near Gyékényes.

A new ballastless track system developed by French engineers is designed to reduce the initial capital required for slab track and deliver better life-cycle costs than ballasted track. As Keith Barrow reports, NBT is now on test in Russia, where it will be subjected to high axleloads and extreme temperatures.

Traditionally contacting sensors and survey devices have been used to measure track displacement during construction on or close to track infrastructure. However, Arthur Kappers, switch systems specialist at Prorail, and Paul Waterfall, product manager, Imetrum, Britain, highlight the advantages of using a video-based system.

The infrastructure pillar of Europe's Shift2Rail research programme promises a raft of innovations aimed at improving resilience and reducing costs. Professor Andy Doherty, chief rail technology officer with Network Rail and chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Council, outlined the aspirations for this major initiative at the recent VDEI track conference in Münster, Germany.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has taken delivery of its first batch of Evraz 100m-long head-hardened rails for the Moscow - St Petersburg line.

SWISS track component supplier Schwihag has announced plans to expand its British manufacturing plant after securing a local authority grant.

GERMANY's Vossloh Group has reported an 11% increase in revenue and a 62.3% jump in Ebit for the first half of 2015 despite a drop in sales of rail fastenings.

CHILEAN State Railways (EFE) has received a new self-propelled measurement vehicle from Mermec, Italy, which will monitor the condition of the railway network and help its engineers to optimise maintenance and renewal work.

KOREA Rail Network Authority and Seoul University are to conduct a feasibility study for a new rail link between the Laotian capital Vientiane and the southern Vietnamese port of Vung Tau.