BRITISH mining company Beacon Hill Resources announced on January 16 that two South African suppliers have completed production of locomotives and wagons for its coal operations on Mozambique's Sena Line.

THE latest SCI Rail Business Index regarding the current and expected business environment, based on a survey of top managers from around 100 representative companies from the global rail industry, reveals a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2014.

PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has awarded Siemens a contract worth around €180m to resignal main lines around Johannesburg and Pretoria as part of the agency's National New Signalling Programme.

KENYA's president Uhuru Kenyatta presided over the groundbreaking of a 500km standard-gauge railway linking the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi on November 28.

SOUTH African mining company Kumba Iron Ore has taken delivery of six C30ACi diesel locomotives from GE to shunt heavy-haul trains at its Sishen mine in Northern Cape.

THE FIRST two of 95 Class 20E dual-voltage electric locomotives being supplied to Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) by the CSR E-loco supply consortium was transferred from the port of Durban to the nearby depot at Umbilo on November 14 for commissioning.

NORTHERN Integrated Logistics Corridor (Clin), a joint venture between Brazilian mining company Vale (80%) and Mozambique Ports and Railway (CFM) (20%), has selected Siemens to supply the signalling and train control system for the 912km Nacala Corridor.

ALGIERS Metro Enterprise (EMA) announced on October 30 that it has selected a consortium of Alstom and Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi as preferred bidder for the contract to build the first phase of the light rail network in the city of Setif, 270km east of Algiers.

UGANDAN president Mr Yoweri Musveni attended a ceremony in the northern town of Gulu on October 26 to mark the reopening of the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) line from Tororo near the Kenyan border, 18 years after services ceased.

THE government of Gauteng is evaluating options for the expansion of the Pretoria – Johannesburg Gautrain standard-gauge network as part of the South African province's 25-year Integrated Transport Master Plan (ITMP25), which seeks to prioritise public transport investment in the region.