About the author

David Briginshaw

David Briginshaw joined IRJ in 1982 as associate editor, and was appointed editor-in-chief in 2001. He has travelled the world extensively interviewing many of the CEOs and senior managers of the world's railways and transit systems which has given him an in-depth knowledge of the global railway industry. David Briginshaw is currently consulting editor and associate publisher of IRJ.

September 23, 2015 | Financial

SNCF Mobility reports growth in first half

THE train operating arm of French National Railways, SNCF Mobility, achieved a 3.7% increase in turnover to $14.26bn for the first half of 2015 due to a slight improvement in the French economy, special offers to stimulate rail travel, and strong growth in SNCF's Keolis and Geodis subsidiaries.

September 23, 2015 | Rolling stock

Singapore orders additional metro trains

SINGAPORE's Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a $S 136.8m ($US 96m) contract to a consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and CRRC subsidiary CSR Qingdao Sifang for 12 six-car trains for the North-South and East-West metro lines (NSEWL).

September 22, 2015 | Signalling

Adif awards high-speed line signalling contract

SPAIN's infrastructure manager, Adif, has awarded a €164m contract to a consortium led by Bombardier and including Alstom and Indra to install signalling and provide maintenance for a new high-speed line under construction in the Extremadura region.

September 18, 2015 | Middle East

CAF presents first passenger train to Saudi Railway Company

THE first of six passenger trains being built by CAF was handed over by the company's CEO Mr Andres Arizlorret to the chairman of Saudi Railway Company (SAR) Dr Saad A Al Qadhi and SAR's CEO Dr Rumaih Al-Rumaih at the new station in Riyadh.

September 18, 2015 | Track

British university designs robust point mechanism

ENGINEERS from Loughborough University have developed a failsafe and robust track switch mechanism called Repoint which they say will improve safety and reduce maintenance costs.

September 17, 2015 | Telecoms

US clears Nokia takeover of Alcatel-Lucent

THE United States Committee on Foreign Investment has cleared the takeover of Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia. The acquisition has already been approved by the US Department of Justice.

September 17, 2015 | Middle East

Doha metro tunneling reaches halfway point

BORING of 113km of tunnels on the first phase of the Doha metro project has reached the halfway point, according to the managing director of Qatar Rail, Mr Abdulla Al-Subaie.

September 16, 2015 | Signalling

Call for signalling engineering diploma

IRJ at IRSE Aspect 2015 conference, London: In his presentation on the competencies needed to recruit and retain the signalling engineers of the future, Mr Mohanakrishnan Sarvepalli from Atkins called for the creation of basic and advanced signalling diploma courses for engineers entering the industry.

September 15, 2015 | Europe

Shift2Rail still seeking a chief executive

IRJ at IRSE Aspect 2015 conference, London: Despite two rounds of trying to recruit a chief executive for the Shift²Rail railway research programme, the European Commission (EC) has yet to appoint anyone to this key role.

September 14, 2015 | Metros

Beijing Metro to start work on five extensions

BEIJING Metro is planning to start construction of three new lines and extensions to two existing lines before the end of this year. Designs for these extensions went on public display on September 10 for 20 days to allow the public to vote on which designs they prefer.