LEGISLATION to renationalise Argentina's railways become law on May 20 when President Mrs Christina Fernandez de Kirchner signed a bill reviving Argentinean Railways (FA) as a state company.

THE state government of Western Australia issued its budget for 2015-2016 on May 13 with a commitment to funding the extension of the TransPerth suburban network to Perth airport, but the proposed Max light rail project appears to have been put on hold.

A TE33A locomotive built by JSC Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ), Kazakhstan, is undergoing trials with Polish operator PKP LHS on its 394km 1520mm-gauge line which links a steelworks near Katowice with the Ukrainian border.

WATCO Companies confirmed on May 18 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchased two west Texas shortlines from Iowa Pacific Holdings for an undisclosed sum.

HOUSTON will restart planning for its first commuter rail line under an agreement signed on May 18 by Republican Senator for western Harris County Mr John Culberson and Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Metro) Mr Gilbert Garcia.

MYANMAR Railways signed a $US 19.9m contract with Mitsubishi Corporation and Hitachi on May 15 for resignalling of the 140km Yangon – Pyuntasa section of the Yangon – Mandalay line.

CHINA's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed on May 18 that it has approved the next phase of the metro network in Chengdu, which encompasses the construction of 79.1km of new lines by 2020.

METRO Trains Melbourne (MTM) has awarded Nomad Digital a contract to install remote condition monitoring (RCM) systems on four Alstom X'Trapolis EMUs in a proof of concept which could lead a full fleet rollout of the technology.

ESTONIA's state-owned passenger operator Elron says it wants to order a new fleet of three five-car inter-city trains for the 190km route linking the capital Tallinn with the country's second city Tartu.

SWEDEN's National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) announced on May 18 that rail operators will be given an extra year to ensure that rail vehicles are equipped with GSM-R filters to prevent interference from 4G public mobile networks.