TEXAS Central, which is planning to build a privately-funded 386km 320km/h railway linking Dallas with Houston, has selected the site for its station in Dallas and says it has reached an agreement with developer Jack Matthews, which owns the site.

SPAIN’s Ministry of Development has started public consultation for the construction of two new high-speed lines to connect with the 180.5km Basque Y network currently under construction linking Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastián and the French border.

SPAIN’s prime minister Mr Mariano Rajoy officially inaugurated a 72km extension to the country’s high-speed network from Valencia to Castellón on the Mediterranean Corridor on January 22 ahead of the start of commercial services on January 23.

CALIFORNIA High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) named Mr Brian Kelly as its new CEO on January 17, the same day it received a new report that found delays and higher-than-expected costs would inflate the price of the project by $US 2.8bn.

Keith Fender, regional editor reports on DBs mixed fortunes.

JAPAN’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) have agreed to study the feasibility of raising the maximum line speed in the world’s longest undersea tunnel in a bid to reduce Tokyo - Shin Hakodate Hokuto journey times to less than four hours.

CHINA added nearly 700km to its high-speed network at the end of December with the opening of three new lines.

THALYS announced on December 22 that ridership on its services will exceed seven million in 2017, the first time in the operator’s 20-year history that passenger numbers have reached this figure.

MALAYSIA’s MyHSR and Singapore’s SG HSR organisations have issued a call for tender for an assets company for the 350km Singapore - Kuala Lumpur high-speed line project, which is due to open in 2026.

BOMBARDIER Sifang Transportation has completed delivery of the final 72 CRH1A-A high-speed train cars under two contracts for 184 cars awarded by China Railway Corporation (CRC).