THE Thai parliament has voted in favour of starting negotiations with China on a proposal by the Chinese to construct a national network of high-speed lines in Thailand. As a result, transport minister Mr Sohpon Zarum says discussions with the Chinese will start soon.

GERMAN RAIL (DB) will launch direct services from London to Cologne, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam ideally in 2012 or at the latest in 2013, CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube announced on October 19 during the first visit of an ICE3 high-speed train to London St Pancras. 
DB will be the first new passenger operator to run services through the Channel Tunnel since it opened in 1994, ending Eurostar’s monopoly on international services to and from London.
DB will operate the new services using class 407 ICE3s from the fleet of 15 trains already on order from Siemens at a cost of about €500 million. The first train should be completed this month to enable certification to start in March 2011 in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Certification for operation to Britain will include an emergency evacuation test in the Channel Tunnel.
DB will run three trains a day from London using two sets in multiple. The trains will divide in Brussels with one set going to Rotterdam and Amsterdam and the other to Cologne and Frankfurt. Journey times from London will be three hours to Rotterdam, under four hours to Amsterdam and Cologne, and five hours to Frankfurt. “From city centre to centre, these times can easily compete with air travel,” he says.
Grube also called for the support of the infrastructure managers in all four countries to ensure DB obtains attractive paths and suitable passenger handling facilities in Belgium and the Netherlands. “We are sure to need political support - no doubt about it - if we are to succeed in doing so,” Grube observed.

A NEW company called EKZ is to be set up in Kazakhstan to build locomotives. It will be owned 50% by Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ), 25% by Alstom, and 25% by Transmashholding (TMH), Russia. The contract for the joint venture was signed today in Paris by Mr Askar Mamin, chairman of KTZ, Mr Philippe Mellier, president of Alstom Transport, and Mr Andrey Andreev, managing director of TMH in the presence of the presidents of Kazakhstan and France, Nursultan Nazarbaev and Nicholas Sarkozy.

RUSSIAN Railways' (RZD) Sapsan high-speed services between St Petersburg, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod are the company's sole profitable enterprise in the passenger sector according to RZD president Mr Vladimir Yakunin. With an 85.5% occupancy rate, revenues from the service are estimated to reach €205 million by the end of the year with profits set to exceed €61 million.

CHINA officially launched commercial services today on the Shanghai - Hangzhou high-speed line, cutting journey times between the two cities from 78 minutes to 45 minutes.

MONTREAL Transport (STM) has selected a Bombardier-Alstom consortium to supply 468 metro cars to gradually replace the city's 44 year-old train fleet. The deal is worth a total of $C 1.2 billion ($US 1.18 billion), with Bombardier taking a $C 742 million share and Alstom $C 493 million.

HITACHI and Toyo Denki Seizo today announced they will form a strategic alliance in electrical components for rolling stock to compete for international contracts. The two companies say they will cooperate in projects outside Japan and Europe by sharing systems integration work and supplying each other's products where appropriate.

EUROSTAR is defending its decision to order 10 high-speed trains from Siemens after rival bidder Alstom announced it will mount a legal challenge against the decision.

FRENCH Rail Network (RFF) has selected the Lisea consortium headed by Vinci Concession for a public-private partnership concession to build the Sud-Europe Atlantique high-speed line linking Tours and Bordeaux. Lisea also includes Caisse des Dépôts and AXA Private Equity.

IRELAND'S Railway Procurment Agency (RPA) announced on October 20 that it will submit an application for a Railway Order for Metro West, a light metro line from Old Blessington Road in Tallaght to Dardistown, just south of Dublin Airport.