THE government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) says four private sector consortia have submitted formal expressions of interest for the Capital Metro light rail project in Canberra.

ESER, a group of Turkish companies, has handed back the 243km Port Harcourt – Enugu line to Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) following the completion of a project to upgrade the southern section of the main line to Kaduna.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has announced further drastic cuts to its mainline train timetable even as it pushes ahead with a €250m deal to buy 70 new locomotives from Vossloh.

TOLL Group, Australia, announced on December 22 that it has divested its 55% share in the Toll Royal Railway concession to its joint venture partner, Royal Group, Cambodia.

GREATER Wellington Regional Council has finalised the short-list for its new suburban railway contract, which covers operations on the three primary north-south corridors into the city centre, and is based on a new performance-based partnering contract model.

TRACK laying has started on Israel's 60km Valley Line linking Haifa with Sheikh Hussain bridge over the River Jordan where it will eventually be connected to the Jordanian rail network.

CONSTRUCTION of the 857km link from Guiyang to Guangzhou, the first high-speed line in China's southwest karst region, was completed on December 21, with test operations set to begin by the end of this week.

THE provincial council of the Italian autonomous region of South Tyrol on December 16 approved the electrification of the Merano - Malles line, entrusting planning and project management to Strutture Trasporto Alto Adige and Alto Adige Finance under a €56m contract.

FOLLOWING a successful return test journey from Hungary to Turkey, the Bombardier Traxx F140 ac Last Mile locomotive 187 009 passed climatic tests at Rail Tec Arsenal's wind tunnel in Vienna which were conducted over the last four weeks.

TRENITALIA has signed two contracts with AnsaldoBreda for rolling stock maintenance services.