SYDNEY's CBD and South East Light Rail line light rail project took another step towards the start of construction on February 25, when the Altrac Light Rail consortium of Acciona Infrastructure Australia, Transdev Sydney, Alstom Transport Australia and Capella Capital confirmed it had reached financial close on the $A 2.1bn ($US 1.72bn) PPP project.

GENESEE & Wyoming (G&W) announced on February 24 that it has agreed to acquire a 95% stake in Britain's Freightliner Group from Arcapita and other shareholders for $US 755m in cash.

AUSTRALIAN railfreight operator Aurizon has increased net profit by 188% to $A 308m ($US 240m) for the first half of the 2014-15 financial year ending December 31 2014, compared with the first half of 2013-14, despite a decline in traffic.

THE government of the Australian state of Victoria has indicated its commitment to the Melbourne Metro Rail project by providing $A 40m ($US 31.1m) in funding to immediately establish a statutory authority to oversee planning works, develop the reference design and undertake detailed site investigations.

THE South West Rail Link (SWRL) extension to the Sydney Trains suburban network from Glenfield to Leppington was officially opened to the public on February 7.

THE government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has announced that the option for an extension to the Capital Metro light rail network from Canberra city centre to the suburb of Russell will be included in the upcoming request for proposals for the first stage of the project.

DOWNER EDI announced on February 4 that it has secured a 10-year contract worth around $A 1bn ($US 782m) to maintain more than 300 locomotives for Pacific National, Australia's largest private railfreight operator.

THE first tunnel boring machine on Sydney's North West Rail Link has broken through into the future Norwest station and the project is already ahead of schedule and under budget.

THE board of Auckland Transport has called for studies to be carried out into the construction of a light rail network in New Zealand's largest city.