VICTORIA state minister for public transport Mrs Jacinta Allan announced on November 22 that the Evolution Rail consortium, which comprises Downer Rail, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles and Plenary Group, has reached contractual close on Melbourne’s $A 2bn ($US 1.5bn) High Capacity Metro Trains (HCMT) public-private partnership (PPP).

NEW Zealand’s South Island Main Trunk railway between Christchurch and Picton could be closed for several months following the devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake which struck near the coastal town of Kaikoura, 170km north of Christchurch, on November 14.

THE government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has announced a new metro line will be built between Parramatta and the Sydney business district, with construction expected to commence within the next five years.

AUSTRALIAN rail freight operator Aurizon has released figures for the third quarter of 2016 which show that rail volumes are consistent with expectations, and that there is a continued decrease in total coal volumes but an improvement in its intermodal business.

THE deputy premier of the Australian state of New South Wales Mr Troy Grant and minister for transport Mr Andrew Constance announced on October 28 that the state government has allocated $A 50m ($US 37.9m) to accelerate the renewal of NSW TrainLink’s medium-and long-distance diesel fleet, starting with the XPT trains.

US regional rail operator Genesee & Wyoming (GWI) announced on October 20 that its Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA) subsidiary has entered into agreements to acquire Glencore Rail (GRail) for $A 1.14bn ($US 870m) and will also issue a 49% equity stake in GWA to funds managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Mira).

THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a combined statement of issues on October 6 on alternative proposals from Aurizon and Pacific National to acquire Glencore Coal’s Hunter Valley rail business.

SIX new stations were added to Queensland Rail's Brisbane Citytrain network on October 3, when the Redcliffe Peninsula Line was inaugurated by Australian prime minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull, the premier of Queensland Mrs Annastacia Palaszczuk, and the mayor of Moreton Bay, Mr Allan Sutherland.

THE last of 83 Hyundai Rotem FP class Matangi EMUs entered service on Wellington’s Metlink commuter rail network at the end of September, marking the completion of a $NZ 430m ($US 313m) project to modernise the rolling stock fleet in New Zealand’s second-largest city.

BALFOUR Beatty has purchased Omnicom Engineering, a British company specialising in on-board video and laser surveying, inspection and monitoring systems, for an undisclosed sum.