TRANSPORT for London (TfL) announced on December 17 that it will begin "detailed technical work" next year to develop a case for the extension of the Bakerloo Line southeast from its current terminus at Elephant and Castle to Old Kent Road and Lewisham.

RENFE started commercial service in the Olmedo - Zamora section of the Madrid - Galicia high - speed line on December 17 with a single return service which will cut travel time for the 232km Madrid - Zamora trip by 22 minutes to 1h 33min.

THE Shift²Rail joint technology initiative published its first call for proposals on December 17, making an initial tranche of €170m in grant funding available for railway research projects in Europe.

INNSBRUCK Transport (IVB) has awarded Bombardier a contract to supply 20 Flexity 2 low-floor LRVs as part of the expansion of the Austrian city's metre-gauge tram network.

GREATER Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) announced on December 17 that it has selected Transdev Australasia in a partnership with Hyundai Rotem as preferred bidder for a contract to operate the Metlink suburban network in New Zealand's second-largest city.

FOLLOWING an international tender, the public transport authorities of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Braunschweig have selected Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland as preferred bidder for both lots of the Saxony-Anhalt Diesel Network regional concession.

NORTHEAST Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad (Metra) and Parsons Transportation Group (PTG) have awarded Wabtec contracts totalling $US 45m to supply Positive Train Control (PTC) for the Chicago commuter rail network.

GERMANY's largest long-distance bus operator MeinFernbus-Flixbus has revealed plans to launch open-access passenger rail operations, although not initially in its domestic market.

THE Australian Government has chosen business and legal advisers for a scoping study into options for the future management, operations and ownership of its wholly-owned interstate and Hunter Valley infrastructure manager, Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).

GERMAN open-access operator Hamburg-Cologne (HKX) officially launched its new service from Frankfurt to Hamburg on December15.