THE president of Togo Mr Faure Gnassingbé and his Ghanaian counterpart Mr John Dramani inaugurated the first rail connection between the two countries on November 27, when they officially launched a 3km link between the Togo National Railways (SNCT) network in the capital Lomé and Aflao in Ghana.

THE Alstom-led Gibela consortium has completed manufacturing of the first complete stainless-steel bodyshell for the 20 X'Trapolis Mega EMUs it is supplying to Passenger Rail Authority of South Africa (Prasa) from Alstom's Lapa plant in Brazil as part of an order for 600 trains.

TANZANIA Railways (TRL) has negotiated at $US 130m loan with Tanzania Investment Bank for the installation of a global positioning system (GPS) and acquisition of new locomotives.

THE government of Nigeria signed a $US 11.97bn contract with China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) in Abuja on November 19 for the construction of the 650km Coastal Railway from Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, to Port Harcourt, Benin City, and Lagos.

ETHIOPIAN Railway Corporation (ERC) has selected a consortium of China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and Shenzhen Metro Group to maintain the new 34km Addis Ababa light rail network.

THE Egyptian Ministry of Finance has transferred $US 2.4bn to the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) to expand the metro and purchase trains.

THE government of Mali has signed framework agreements worth $US 9.5bn with two Chinese railway civil engineering companies to build a new line to the Guinean port of Conakry and to upgrade the existing railway linking Mali with Senegal.

THE Ethiopian government has concluded a $US 865m financing agreement which will fund the construction of the 389km electrified standard-gauge line from Awash on the Addis Ababa – Djibouti line to Weldia in the north of the country.

SOUTH African locomotive builder Grindrod has unveiled a new Cape Gauge shunting and short-trip locomotive which it hopes will find a ready market among rail operators looking for affordable replacements for ageing second-hand units.

A Nairobi High Court has halted the $US 3.6bn project to build a standard-gauge railway linking Nairobi with Mombasa due to a dispute over compensation for land acquisition.