Korea's latest experimental high-speed train, Hemu430X, was unveiled in Changwon on May 16, and is now being tested with a view to achieving a new Korean speed record of 430km/h later this year, explains Dr G H Kang with Hyundai Rotem's R&D centre.

German Rail broke two of its own records - for passenger traffic and revenue - in the first half of 2012, and despite a drop in freight, Ebit also grew strongly. David Briginshaw reports from Berlin on DB's cautious optimism for the rest of the year.

RUSSIAN Railways' (RZD) revenue rose by 9% last year to Roubles 1481bn ($US 46.3bn) due primarily to a 5.7% increase in revenue freight traffic and what RZD describes as an 8% tariff indexation.

THE city that launched the US light rail revolution in 1981 will extend its Green Line on September 2 from the Old Town Transit Center to the 12th and Imperial Transit Center.

GERMANY's Ministry of Transport, Construction and Urban Development and German Rail (DB) have reached agreement to fund a €693m project to construct a 16km 250km/h section of line to the south of Karlsruhe.

THE city of Foz do Iguaçu in the Brazilian state of Paraná will present a plan for a 40km light rail line to the Federal government's Cities Ministry today. The estimated Reais 200m ($US 99.5m) project is designed to be included in the urban mobility projects sector of Brazil's growth acceleration plan (PAC) for medium-sized cities with populations of 250,000-700,000 people.

SWEDEN's prime minister Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, speaking in Linköping on August 29, says he plans to increase railway investment by 30% between 2014 and 2025 as part of a plan to invest more in infrastructure to encourage economic growth.

GERMAN open-access passenger operator Hamburg-Köln-Express (HKX), which launched a daily service between Hamburg and Cologne on July 23, says the first month of operation has been positive.

RUSSIA's anti-trust watchdog has ordered the city of Moscow to stop taking bids for a $US 300m contract to supply 120 LRVs and to re-tender.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has strongly denied claims in the Russian press that its high-speed railway construction programme has been cancelled.