A memorandum of understanding on the construction of a rail link between Tibet and Nepal was signed in Beijing on June 21 by China’s president, Mr Xi Jinping, and Nepalese prime minister Mr Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli.

CANADA’s national passenger rail operator Via Rail announced on June 18 that Bombardier Transportation Canada, Siemens Canada, Stadler US and Talgo have been shortlisted to participate in the Request for Proposals (RFP) to manufacture a new fleet of inter-city trains for the Quebec City - Windsor Corridor.

A subsidiary of Watco Companies, United States, is developing plans to launch passenger services between Oklahoma’s two largest cities.

THE city of Gatineau, Quebec, has unveiled proposals for a 26km light rail network which, according to its promoters, will help encourage movement of the population in the west of the city to downtown Gatineau and Ottawa, Ontario.

THE Welsh government has announced plans to build a £100m “world-leading” rail testing centre which it says would offer facilities for an innovation accelerator, rolling stock and infrastructure testing, storage, decommissioning, maintenance and servicing.

SÃO Paulo commuter rail operator Paulista Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM) has awarded Korea's Hyundai Rotem with a Won 80bn ($USD 71.6m) contract for rolling stock maintenance.

GERMAN open-access operator Potsdam Railway Company (EGP) is set to become the debut customer for Siemens’ new Smartron electric locomotive after signing a contract on June 21 to lease three units for delivery next year.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has signed a framework agreement with CRRC Zhuzhou for 20 “AZLok” hybrid shunting locomotives to be used by infrastructure manager DB Netz, possibly as maintenance and emergency vehicles, the first time the Chinese company has exported to Germany. An initial batch of four locomotives has been ordered under the agreement signed in Berlin on June 20.

BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) has invited suppliers to bid for 10-year track maintenance contracts worth up to £5bn, as part of a plan to introduce three new geographically-focused alliances between NR, designers and construction suppliers.

BRITAIN’s East Coast franchise returned to government-owned operation on June 25 with the launch of London North Eastern Railway-branded (LNER) services following the failure of the eight-year Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) franchise jointly held by Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin (10%).