TASRAIL, which operates the 726km, 1067mm-gauge rail network on the Australian island state of Tasmania, has awarded a $A 60m ($US 61.3m) contract to Downer Rail, Australia, and Progress Rail, United States, for 17 type PR22L locomotives, delivery of which will start in mid-2013. 

UNION Pacific reported net income of $US 964m in the fourth quarter of 2011, and $US 3.3bn for the full year, an 18% increase on 2010.

The deadline for the network-wide deployment of Positive Train Control (PTC) in the United States is now less than four years away. Kevin Smith examines the current status of this mammoth project, the challenges it poses to US railways, and how they might yet make it work in their favour.

THE United States Congress voted on November 17 to abolish all funding for high-speed rail projects this year, but with $US 10.1bn already distributed to states, work will continue on projects that are already underway.

HONOLULU Authority for Rapid Transportation (Hart) has awarded the $US 1.33bn core systems contract for the city's first driverless metro line to Ansaldo Honolulu Joint Venture, a consortium of Ansaldo STS and AnsaldoBreda.

VTG Rail, a subsidiary of VTG, Germany, has acquired SC Leasing, United States, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation of America, and its 2000 freight wagons, doubling VTG Rail's North American customer base.

Work is underway on Bay Area Rapid Transit's (Bart) largest expansion since the metro network opened in 1972. Kevin Smith examines the projects and their impact on public transport in the second most densely populated region in the United States.

CHICAGO Transit Authority has received a $US 646m grant from the Illinois state government to rebuild the metro Red Line and improve the Purple Line.