RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) president Mr Vladimir Yakunin and RZD vice-president Mr Oleg Toni presided at the holing-through ceremony for one of the three service and evacuation tunnels on the 48km rail link under construction from Adler to serve the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. "The project is on schedule," Yakunin declared.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has selected a joint venture of Siemens and Russian partner Sinara Group a to supply 221 double-section electric freight locomotives, the first of which will be delivered within six months. The class 2ES10 locomotives will feature asynchronous traction drive and will be assembled at the Urals Railway Machinery Plant in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, near Yekaterinburg in Sverdlovsk region.

GERMAN RAIL (DB) subsidiary DB Schenker Rail is poised to launch its first open-access railfreight services in Bulgaria after announcing it has been granted an operating license for the national network.

A CONSORTIUM of 13 coal mining companies has launched a $A 4.85 billion ($US 4 billion) bid to buy Queensland's coal network from the state government in an attempt to scupper the planned partial-flotation of Queensland Rail (QR).

PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF has designed what it claims to be the world's first recycled plastic railway bridges, which have been supplied to the US Army for the Fort Eustis Military Railway in Virginia.

KIWIRAIL will receive a $NZ 750 million ($US 507 million) cash injection from the New Zealand government over the next three years as part of a 10-year strategy to turn the national railway operator into a viable business. A further $NZ 3.85 billion has been earmarked but KiwiRail will be expected to fund this internally from future profits.

THE first trains for a high-density metro line in the holy city of Mecca have been shipped to the Saudi port of Jeddah by manufacturer CNR Changchun, China. The first two 12-car trains were delivered just 12 months after the contract was awarded by the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. The remaining 15 trains will be delivered by November.

NEW ZEALAND'S state-owned railway KiwiRail has today invited expressions of interest for the procurement of a new fleet of 38 emus for the Auckland suburban network.

Bombardier has secured a Zlotys 54 million ($US 16.4 million) contract with Polish infrastructure manager PKP PLK to install ERTMS Level 2 on a section of the E30 mainline between Legnica and Bielawa Dolna.