SINGAPORE's Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsein Loong inaugurated the initial 4.3km section of the city's Downtown Line on December 21.

THE DUTCH house of representatives launched a parliamentary investigation commission on December 19 into the collapse of Fyra high-speed services between the Netherlands and Belgium and the subsequent cancellation of the contract for AnsaldoBreda V250 trains.

GOLDLINQ, the consortium building the first light rail line in Gold Coast, Australia, confirmed on December 20 that it had laid the final section of track on the 13km link between Gold Coast University Hospital and Broadbeach.

GERMAN infrastructure manager DB Networks and its Czech counterpart SŽDC announced on December 19 that all planning has been completed for the reinstatement of the short cross-border link between Selb, Germany, and Aš, Czech Republic, which would allow trains to run direct between the Bavarian town of Hof and the Czech city of Cheb.

FINLAND's VR Group has selected Siemens as preferred bidder for a €300m contract to supply 80 1524mm-gauge electric locomotives for passenger and freight services.

BELGIAN National Railways (SNCB) says it has completed a programme to equip all locomotives, multiple units, and driving trailers with the Transmission Balise Locomotive Driving aid system (TBL1+), which is being rolled out across the Belgian network following the collision at Buizingen in February 2010, which killed 18 people.

ILLINOIS Department of Transportation (IDOT) announced on December 19 that it has issued a notice of intent to award Siemens a contract to supply a total of 35 200km/h diesel passenger locomotives for five US states.

MTR, Hong Kong, has selected Alstom in a €41m contract to build, install, test, and commission 11km of double track, which includes a depot and sidings, as well as 25kV ac overhead electrification for the Shatin-Central Link project in Hong Kong.

ECUADOR's National Pre-investment Institute (INP) has awarded Barcelona metro operator TMB a contract worth around $US 1.4m to carry out a prefeasibility study into the construction of an electrified freight network linking key industrial and mining centres with ports on the country's Pacific coast.

BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) has selected four preferred suppliers for contracts worth £1.2bn which will cover almost half of its investments in London and the southeast of England during the 2014-19 funding period.