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THE first bore of the much-delayed twin-bore Hallandsås tunnel was holed through today, at the same time as work officially begun on a major track doubling project.

ADANI Enterprises, India, is to invest $US 1.65 billion in the construction of a new railway and port on the Indonesian island of Sumatra to allow the extraction of coal for generating electricity in India. This follows an agreement reached today with the Indonesian government and Indonesian coal mining company PT Bukit Asam.

VIETNAM's deputy prime minister, Mr Hoang Trung Hai, presided at a groundbreaking ceremony today in Ho Chi Minh City for the start of construction of Line 2 of the metro. The 20km line will run from Tay Ninh bus station to Thu Thiem. Construction is due to be completed in 2015 with commercial services starting the following year.

CAF, Spain, is reported to be the lowest bidder for a contract to supply the Warsaw metro with 35 six-car trains for delivery in 2012. CAF bid Zlotys 1.19 billion ($US 379.6 million) against an estimated price of Zlotys 1.2 billion.

THE results of the 2010 worldwide study of the railway technology market produced by SCI Verkehr, Germany, will be presented on the internet next month. A report on the study will also appear in the September issue of IRJ.

CHINA's Ministry of Railways has awarded a Euros 140 million contract to Vossloh's Chinese subsidiary for track fastenings. The fastenings will be supplied next year and will be fitted on a long section of the1892km Lanzhou - Urumqi line in northwestern China.

NORWEGIAN financial services group, DnB NOR, has ordered six Flexity Classic LRVs from Bombardier for use on the Spårväg City line in Stockholm in a deal worth Euros 21 million.

THE World Bank has agreed to provide a $US 430 million loan to fund the Mumbai Urban Transport Project II which is intended to increase capacity on the Mumbai commuter rail network by 2014-15.

EGYPT's National Authority for Tunnels has awarded a contract worth about Yen 18 billion ($US 208 million) for 88 cars for the Cairo metro to a Japanese consortium led by Mitsubishi and including Kinki Sharyo and Toshiba. Kinki Sharyo will manufacture the trains while Toshiba will supply the electrical equipment.