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ON BELHALF of India's Ministry of Railways, Indian Railway Construction Company (Ircon) has appointed Mott MacDonald to carry out a pre-feasibility study for the country's first high-speed railway.

THE City of Edmonton, Canada, has awarded Thales a $C 45m ($US 46.5m) contract to install its Seltrac communications-based train control (CBTC) solution on the city's 10km-long North LRT extension.

RIO TINTO Iron Ore has awarded Ansaldo STS a $A 45m ($US 48.3m) contract for signalling and communications systems in the second major award to be made under a framework agreement signed between the two companies last November.

AN $NZ168m ($US 140.4m) agreement has been signed between KiwiRail, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the New Zealand Government to complete the upgrade of the Wellington suburban rail network and rolling stock.

GERMAN Rail (DB) today submitted an application for fundamental approval of the operation of its ICE high-speed trains in the Channel Tunnel to the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), which is responsible for safety in the tunnel.

BRAZIL'S National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) has announced that it plans to change the concessioning model for the 511km Rio de Janeiro - São Paulo - Campinas high-speed line, with the bids being split into two separate contracts, after the project failed to attract any bidders.

 

A GROUP of Europe's principal rail industry suppliers have unveiled plans for a Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) which will aim to achieve a step change in railway research and industry-driven innovation.

THE £1.4bn expansion of Manchester's Metrolink's light rail network reached another milestone today with the opening of the 2.7km line from Trafford Bar to St Werburgh's Road in Chorlton.

STEFFAN Geers, project director ICE London with German Rail (DB), confirmed today that DB is on course to introduce an ICE service from Frankfurt and Amsterdam to London in 2013. Speaking before Britain's House of Lords inquiry into the European rail market, Geers said that the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), responsible for safety in the Channel Tunnel, gave its approval last month for the operation of trains with distributed traction. This has been a major barrier to the introduction of new trains in the Channel Tunnel other than the original Eurostar trains which have power cars at each end.

MOZAMBIQUE Ports and Railways (CFM) has announced that the transport of coal by rail from the Moatize mine in Tete province to the port of Beira will not begin until September due to delays in completing the rehabilitation of the Sena Railway.