BEIJING Metro opened its first maglev and light rail lines along with its first fully automated driverless metro line on December 30.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has received planning approval from the German Rail Authority (EBA) to close and relocate Hamburg Altona terminus station, which is located west of the city centre, to a site at Diebsteich, roughly 1km further north.

THE US Federal government has denied that any agreement was in place to help fund the $US 20bn Gateway programme to increase capacity on the Northeast Corridor.

PLANS for Santiago Metro’s future Line 7, announced in May 2017, were modified in December to relieve congestion on the parallel Line 1 more effectively and to better serve the eastern part of the Chilean capital.

BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) completed electrification of the Great Western Main Line (GWML) between Maidenhead and Didcot on December 27, enabling the start of electric services on January 2.

BRIGHTLINE, Florida’s new private passenger operator, has announced that it will launch an introductory service between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach during the week of January 8.

BAVARIAN Railway Company (BEG) has issued calls for tender for the operation of two networks in the Augsburg area: E-Network electric services and the D-Network Augsburg II diesel services.

BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail has reopened London Bridge station following 10 days of intensive engineering work at the city’s oldest station over Christmas and New Year as the five-year £1bn station redevelopment project nears completion.

BERLIN Brandenburg Transport Authority (VBB) has issued a call for tender for the operation of two regional lines comprising the Prignitz network.