AN investigation is underway into the cause of a derailment which resulted in two BNSF trains, one of which was carrying crude oil, to collide and explode near Casselton, North Dakota, on December 30.
THE Chinese city of Zhengzhou celebrated the opening of its first metro line on December 26, the 26.3km east-west Line 1 from Xiliuhu to City Sports Centre.
THE official opening date for the second tram line in Hungary's second-largest city Debrecen has been set for March 1 following the start of test operation last month.
FOR the first time since Eurostar services linking London, Paris and Brussels started in 1994 annual passenger traffic has reached 10 million journeys.
BEIJING's metro network reached 465km on December 28 with the start of public services on two new sections of Line 8, which links the city centre with the northern suburbs.
CHINA has marked the final days of 2013 by opening a number of high-speed lines in various parts of the country totalling 1501km.
A ground breaking ceremony was held in Shenzhen last week to mark the start of construction of MTR Corporation's first "rail-plus-property" project in mainland China.
ISREAL's prime minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, together with transport minister Mr Yisrael Katz and Israel Railways' general manager Mr Boaz Zafrir, opened an extension of the Tel Aviv - Ashkelon line south to Shderot on December 25.
THE Railway Research Institute (VUZ), Czech Republic, has issued Evraz, Russia, with a TSI compliance certificate for 920mm-diameter type BA 318 rolled railway wheels thereby allowing Evraz to start supplying these wheels to the European market.
RUSSIAN Railways International, a subsidiary of Russian Railways (RZD), will start in January to mobilise workers and equipment to enable work to begin in March to upgrade 370km of lines in Serbia and supply diesel trains to Serbian Railways.
