DESPITE the United States' sluggish economic recovery, Amtrak ridership is surging this year with 11 consecutive monthly ridership records, according to the latest figures released by the national passenger operator.

THE government of New South Wales issued a draft 20-year transport plan today which outlines around $A 100bn ($US 104.24bn) in improvements to transport infrastructure in the Sydney metropolitan area.

German Rail broke two of its own records - for passenger traffic and revenue - in the first half of 2012, and despite a drop in freight, Ebit also grew strongly. David Briginshaw reports from Berlin on DB's cautious optimism for the rest of the year.

RUSSIAN Railways' (RZD) revenue rose by 9% last year to Roubles 1481bn ($US 46.3bn) due primarily to a 5.7% increase in revenue freight traffic and what RZD describes as an 8% tariff indexation.

GERMANY's Ministry of Transport, Construction and Urban Development and German Rail (DB) have reached agreement to fund a €693m project to construct a 16km 250km/h section of line to the south of Karlsruhe.

EUROPEAN railfreight transport operators are continuing to suffer from low profitability despite considerable increases in traffic since the height of the world financial crisis in 2009, according to the latest European Railfreight Transport Market 2012 study released by SCI Verkehr.

SWEDEN's prime minister Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, speaking in Linköping on August 29, says he plans to increase railway investment by 30% between 2014 and 2025 as part of a plan to invest more in infrastructure to encourage economic growth.

THREE signalling companies have been awarded contracts worth about £20m by Network Rail (NR) to develop software prototypes for a national traffic management system.

ISRAEL National Roads Company invites companies or groups to prequalify by October 24 for a contract to construct the superstructure, and equip two new lines currently under construction.

IN an effort to boost its financial performance, KiwiRail has announced plans to cut $NZ 200m ($US 161.5m) from expenses between 2013 and 2015.