THE European Union (EU) will allocate Lats 400m ($US 752m) towards a programme to electrify Latvia's railway network, according to a statement issued by the Latvian Ministry of Transport. The Ministry says that the work is scheduled to begin by the end of this year and will last up to 2020.
THE Spanish Government has issued a decree outlining its final plans to partially open profitable passenger rail routes to competition, particularly those which operate on the extensive high-speed rail network.
THE LENGTH of Salt Lake City's commuter rail network almost doubled on February 22, when Utah Transit Authority (UTA) opened its FrontRunner South extension from Salt Lake Central to Provo.
ALSTOM and Thales have been selected by JR East to negotiate a contract to install communications-based train control (CBTC) on the Ayase - Toride Joban Local suburban line in Tokyo with a view to awarding a contract to one of the companies in December. JR East plans to introduce CBTC on the line in about 2020.
INVENSYS Rail has been awarded a $A 39m ($US 40.6m) turnkey contract by South Australia's Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to install ERTMS signalling and train control on Adelaide's commuter rail network as part of the Adelaide Rail Revitalisation programme.
TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has announced plans for a £320m project to lengthen trains on the London Overground network from four to five cars with the aim of accommodating rapidly-increasing ridership.
THE Finnish Transport Agency has secured match-funding worth €5m from the European Union's TEN-T Programme for further studies into the proposed Helsinki City Rail Loop.
A task force headed by Lord Adonis, a former British transport minister, recommends the construction of Crossrail 2 in London as a heavy rail link with through running onto existing suburban lines.
SOUTHERN California commuter rail operator Caltrain is preparing to launch an environmental review of its plans to electrify the San Francisco – San Jose line with a series of public meetings on the project.
CBTC is already the train control system of choice for new metro projects and is gaining favour for metro resignalling schemes as well as high-capacity commuter rail projects.
