SANCTIONS could be imposed on vertically-integrated railways obstructing competition in their home market under new measures included in the draft Fourth Railway Package, which was unveiled by the European Commission (EC) on January 30.
BRITISH Infrastructure manager Network Rail has awarded a £40m contract to Carillion for electrification of the 50km line from Cumbernauld to Glasgow Queen Street in Scotland.
MEXICAN transport minister Mr Geraldo Ruiz signed a cooperation agreement on January 28 with the governor of the state of Querétaro, Mr Jose Calzada, to advance plans for a new passenger railway between Mexico City and Querétaro.
HOPES of finally opening the long-delayed 4.7km light rail line in the Spanish city of Jaen have faded after an audit by the Catalonian train operating company FGC found annual operating losses would run into millions of Euros.
NORFOLK Southern will spend $US 2bn on capital improvement projects in 2013, including $US 831m on infrastructure maintenance and replacement of sections of rail, sleepers, ballast and bridges.
LATVIAN Railways (LDZ) has selected a consortium of Bombardier and Belam Riga to deliver Bombardier's Interflo 200 mainline signalling system on a section of the Bolderaja - Zasulauks line which connects the capital Riga with the Bolderaja and Riga harbour area. The contract is worth Lats 9.5m ($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.
ALPINE Rolling Motorway (AFA), the piggyback shuttle service between France and Italy operated jointly by SNCF Geodis and Trenitalia, has gained 52 new customers in the six months since the 12.2km Mont Cenis tunnel was cleared for trains carrying 4m-high semitrailers.
MOLDOVA's minister of transport and road infrastructure, Mr Anatol Salaru, is hoping to secure financial aid of €50-60m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for modernisation of the country's railway system.
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.