ITALIAN State Railways (FS) has submitted detailed designs to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport for a €1.5bn project to construct a second track on the Andora – Finale Ligure section of the Ventimiglia – Genoa line in Liguria.

CHINA Northern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CNR) has released artist's impressions of the driverless trains it will deliver next year for the first metro line in Beijing to be equipped for Unattended Train Operation (UTO).

BANGLADESH Railway has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Railway Group to build a new line to serve the southeast of the country.

MONTREAL's Metropolitan Transport Agency (AMT) launched services on the new 53km Mascouche commuter rail line on December 1 with eight round trips a day on weekdays.

THE Supervisory Board of Vossloh has announced a new strategy for the company which involves focussing on its track products and activities and divesting its locomotive and LRV business by 2017.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) CEO Mr Mosenngwa Mofi attended the unveiling of the first Vossloh Euro 4000 diesel locomotive for the agency's long-distance main line services at a ceremony in Cape Town on December 1.

THE Kenyan government has released $US 88m to compensate people whose land will be taken up by the $US 3.6bn project to build a 609km standard-gauge railway linking Nairobi with Mombasa. The decision comes one month after a High Court suspended construction due to a dispute over compensation.

ALGERIA's National Railway Investment Agency (Anesrif) has awarded Estel, a joint venture of Algeria National Railways (SNTF) and Siemens a contract to supply signalling and operations control equipment to upgrade the 90km Beni Mansour - Bejaia line to double-track.

INTERNATIONAL high-speed services between Spain and France were suspended on November 30 after floodwater inundated the tunnels beneath Girona for the second time in two months.

THALYS is now authorised to operate passenger services on high-speed and conventional lines in France under its own safety certification after the French Railway Safety Board (EPSF) granted the operator a certificate Part B, which demonstrates the operator complies with national safety provisions.