INDIAN Railways' Rs 240bn ($US 4.5bn) project to construct a 63km elevated rail corridor linking Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai has been abandoned following a lack of response from private parties.

CONSTRUCTION of the first phase of Hyderabad's metro network reached a milestone on May 8 with the first trial run on the 4.4km northern section of Line 1 between the depot at Miyapur and Kukatpally.

SRI LANKA's minister of internal transport Mr Ranjith Madduma Bandara confirmed on May 5 that a feasibility study is underway into the electrification of Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) suburban lines around the capital Colombo.

THE prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced on May 5 that a revised timeline will be drawn up for the 330km Singapore – Kuala Lumpur high-speed line as the scale and complexity of the project means the target launch date of 2020 agreed by the two countries in February 2013 cannot be met.

MORE than 7100 passengers took part in six hours of complimentary trial operations on Dalian metro Line 2 on April 30, with 11 trains carrying out more than 100 pilot runs.

RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has selected a consortium led by Mosgiprotrans and including Nizhegorodmetroproekt and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEC) to provide preliminary surveys and design for the proposed Moscow - Kazan high-speed line.

CHINA Railway Corporation (CRC) has awarded a contract worth around €70m to Vossloh Fastening Systems China for high-speed fastenings for installation on the final section of the Beijing - Harbin high-speed line which is currently under construction.

INDONESIAN officials say construction of a new 143km line from Makassar to Parepare in South Sulawesi will begin this July once land acquisition is complete.

ALSTOM has delivered three five-car trains for the 35km two-line metro network in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

KAWASAKI Heavy Industries confirmed on April 22 that it has received an order from Japan's Tobu Railway to supply eight three-car 500 series EMUs for use on limited express services in the Tokyo area.