THE Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has received seven bids for its Rand 123bn ($US 14.93bn) rolling stock fleet renewal programme (IRJ June p16) for state-owned commuter operator Metrorail.

THE Mauritian Ministry of Public Infrastructure has appointed Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE), Aurecon, and Singapore Mass Transit Corporation (SMRT) to provide technical advisory services for the proposed light rail line between the island's capital Port Louis and Curepipe.

IN preparation for the opening of the new manganese export terminal at the Port of Ngqura, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has carried out a series of tests on the Hotazel to Port Elizabeth line evaluating the performance of 208-wagon trains with distributed traction.

The world's leading mining companies are preparing massive operations in Mozambique's Moatize basin which holds one of the world's largest untapped coal deposits. Kevin Smith and John Batwell look at plans to develop railway infrastructure to aid extraction of the country's mineral wealth.

THE financially-troubled project to build a light rail network in the Nigerian capital Abuja has received a significant boost with the signing of a loan agreement between the Nigerian and Chinese governments.

JUST DAYS after Zambia's president announced a review of the Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) concession, the government has announced it will revoke the contract with New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investment.

THE Algerian Railway Agency (Anserif) has awarded Estel, a joint venture of Algerian National Railways (SNTF) and Siemens, a contract to supply ERTMS equipment for the new line between Ajelfa and Laghouat.

ZAMBIAN president Mr Michael Sata has directed the country's newly-appointed justice minister Mr Wynter Kabimba to launch a review of the freight and passenger concession agreement involving the government, Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ) and New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investment, which was signed in 2003.

THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has provided $US 500m to the East African Community (EAC), which covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, to roll out projects under its Railway Master Plan starting this year.

TRANSNET Freight Rail (TFR) chief executive Mr Siyabonga Gama announced on August 6 that the Richards Bay heavy-haul line had set a new record for weekly coal volumes of 1.877 million tonnes.