Vossloh Cogifer has developed maintenance-friendly switch machines for use on standard sleepers or in box sleepers, thereby allowing automatic tamping of the trackbed. Their latest application is on two very different railways: a heavy-haul line in northern Sweden and on the recently-completed Ankara - Konya high-speed line in Turkey.
ISRAEL Railways has outlined plans to build a network of 11 lines totalling 475km to serve both Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank. However, construction priorities and costs have yet to be determined.
THE president-director of mining company PT Tambang Batu Bara Bukit Asam (PTBA) says he has been informed by the Indonesian government that the legal problems which have delayed construction of the 300km railway since 2005 will be settled this year.
DENMARK's infrastructure manager Banedanmark has shortlisted six bidders for civil works contracts on the country's first high-speed line, which will link Copenhagen to Ringsted.
Track doubling of the 90km section between Lodhran and Khanewal has been completed at a cost of Rs 3.3bn ($US 36.3m).
The Swiss Federal Council has recommended payments of SFr 6.62bn ($US 7.44bn) to maintain Switzerland's railway infrastructure under the terms of the 2013 - 2016 performance agreement with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).