PLANNING began on March 18 for Hungary's first tram-train project, which will link the tram network in the city Szeged and a planned light rail line in Hódmezővásárhely via Hungarian State Railways' (MÁV) Szeged – Békéscsaba line.

ST ETIENNE Metropolitan Council gave the go-ahead on April 1 to develop plans for the French city's third light rail line, which will extend the network to serve northern districts of the city.

EAST Japan Railway Company (JR East) unveiled its new generation E235 EMU for Tokyo's Yamanote Line to the press at its Shinagawa depot on March 28.

SIEMENS presented the new class 700 EMU for cross-London Thameslink suburban services to the press at its Krefeld plant in Germany on April 2, confirming that the first sets will be delivered to the new depot at Three Bridges in August in readiness for the start of mainline testing.

CONSTRUCTION of the delayed 26km Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou - Shenzhen - Hong Kong Express Rail Link (ERL) reached a milestone at the beginning of March with the breakthrough of the Ngau Tam Mei – Tai Kong Po tunnel.

OSIRIS, a three-year research programme to identify means to improve energy efficiency in urban railway transport, concluded this week with participants hailing its success during the final conference in Brussels.

THE chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region Mr Losang Jamcan has told Nepalese president Mr Ram Baran Yadav that the Chinese government plans to extend the Tibet Railway to the Neapalese border within five years.

ELECTRO-MOTIVE Diesel (EMD) has delivered the first 10 units from a batch of 19 SD70ACe six-axle diesel-electric locomotives ordered last year by Ferromex.

NEW ZEALAND's state-owned national railway KiwiRail dipped back into the red in the second half of last year according to the company's latest financial results, which show a loss of $NZ 6.8m ($US 5m) compared with a profit of $NZ 3.5m in the second half of 2013.

PRESIDENT Park Geun-hye of Korea along with 1200 invited guests and members of the public attended a ceremony at Songjeong station in Gwangju on April 1 to mark the opening of the new 182.3km high-speed line from Osong to Gwangju. New KTX Honam services from Seoul to Mokpo will begin using the line on April 2.