THE Supervisory Board of German Rail (DB) has approved plans to increase the maximum length of the next-generation ICx long-distance train from 10 to 12 cars in order to raise seating capacity from 724 to 830.
THE government of Monterey County, California, is considering a proposal to extend the state's successful Capitol Corridor inter-city passenger service south from San Jose to serve the town of Salinas.
AFTER 10 years of construction, the first metro line in the Italian city of Brescia was inaugurated on March 2 by the president of the region of Lombardy Mr Roberto Maroni.
CHINA's Export – Import Bank has signed a $US 278.2m loan agreement with the Sri Lankan government to finance the 115km extension of Sri Lanka Railways' Colombo – Galle – Matara line along the island's south coast to Kataragama.
PARIS Transport Authority (RATP) has awarded a contract worth around €11m to Soitec and a consortium of Philips and French partner Step to install LED lighting at stations across the city's metro and RER networks.
SERBIAN Railways (ŽS) signed a contract with Stadler on March 4 for a fleet of 21 four-car Flirt emus, which will be used on suburban services in the Belgrade area.
ŠKODA Transportation has been awarded a contract worth around €104.7m to supply 60 low-floor LRVs to the Turkish city of Konya, beating off bids from Astra Arad, Bombardier, CAF, CNR Tangshan, and Pesa.
THE Danish government has announced plans to use North Sea oil revenues to finance a €3.7bn investment in the country's railway infrastructure over the next decade, which will reduce journey times between Denmark's five largest cities.
NEW South Wales transport minister Ms Gladys Berejiklian announced last week that three groups made up of 33 companies have been shortlisted for the surface and viaduct civil contract of Sydney's North West Rail Link project.
REPRESENTATIVES from the United States' leading freight railways told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) during a conference in Washington, DC, this week that a full implementation of Positive Train Control on around 96,500km of track will not be possible by the federally-mandated deadline of 2015.
