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CHINA'S Ministry of Railways (MoR) says overall railfreight volumes witnessed a 0.3% year-on-year increase last month, the first rise since November 2008. China's railways carried 284.56 million tonnes of freight during July, compared with 283.71 million tonnes for the same period in 2008. This is an increase of 11 million tonnes on June levels.

CHINA Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) says it has formed a joint-venture company with the Venezuelan government to build a $US 7.5 billion east-west railway. The 468km line will start in Tinaco, 150km west of Caracas, running east through El Pao, El Sombrero and Zaraza to Anaco in Anzoategui state, and is expected to open in mid-2012. CREC will hold a 40% stake in the joint venture company that will construct the line, with the remaining shares being held by the Venezuelan government.

BRITAIN'S Department for Transport (DfT) has approved a £530.7 million funding package for the Phase 2 expansion of the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) light rail network.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has awarded a Siemens and Transmashholding subsidiary Tverskoy Vagonostroitelny Zavod (TVZ) a contract to supply 200 sleeping cars for services between Russia and Europe. The coaches will be built to RIC standards, allowing operation throughout Europe, and will be equipped with interchangeable standard gauge (1435mm) and Russian gauge (1520mm) bogies.

ABU DHABI Department of Transport (DoT) has launched an international tender for the detailed design of the city's planned light rail network, which will eventually extend to 340km. The study is expected to take 18 months to complete and Mr Hashim Al Hashemi, director of the DoT's Public Transport Department, says the first line will open in 2014.

IRAN Heavy Diesel Engine Manufacturing Company (Desa) is poised to launch a new range of dual-fuel diesel/natural gas engines, the first of which will be supplied to Iranian Islamic Republic Railways (RAI) next year for use in its locomotives. The engine will run on a blend of 80% natural gas and 20% diesel, and will initially be produced with an output of 800kW, although Desa plans to expand the range to include 16 and 20-cylinder variants with an output of up to 2000kW.

INDIA's Ministry of Railways has set up a committee of 16 experts to draw up a so-called Vision 2020 strategy to find innovative ways to fund uneconomic but socially-desirable railway investment projects as public-private partnerships. The committee will be chaired by Mr Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

METRO-DF, which operates the 41km broad-gauge metro in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, has awarded a Euros 110 million contract to Alstom to supply 48 four-car Metropolis trains and install automatic train operation (ATO).

THE Duchess of Cornwall yesterday presented Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (KBRS) with the Queen's Award for Innovation. The award is for the EP2002 distributed brake control system for use on metro trains. EP2002 is a family of modular brake control valves which combine electrical and mechanical components to produce a per-bogie distributed brake control system.

After two years of instability and strife, the International Union of Railways (UIC) has emerged with a new structure and a new management team eager to break with the past. In an exclusive interview, UIC director general Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux talks to Keith Barrow about the challenges of restoring confidence and fostering greater international cooperation.