NORWAY's infrastructure manager, Jernbaneverket, has pre-qualified nine joint ventures and three companies from Europe and Asia to bid for two contracts for the construction of a 20km tunnel on the new 250km/h Follo line.

IRJ at Nordic Rail: SWEDISH infrastructure manager Trafikverket says plans to build the country's first high-speed line between Stockholm and Gothenburg are taking shape, with development now well underway on the Stockholm - Linköping and Borås - Gothenburg sections.

TRANSPORT for Greater Manchester (TfGM) opened a 3.4km extension to the East Manchester Line of its Metrolink light rail network early. Services started running to Ashton-under-Lyne on October 9.

POLISH State Railways' (PKP) freight business PKP Cargo is to be part-privatised through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Warsaw stock exchange.

IRJ at Nordic Rail: Testing is set to commence in November on Norwegian infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket's pilot ERTMS project.

WIENER Linien, which operates urban rail services in the Austrian capital, inaugurated a 4.2km extension to Line U2 of the Vienna U-Bahn on October 5.

THE Court of Justice in Amsterdam has rejected a second attempt by AnsaldoBreda to obtain information from the various reports on the performance of the V250 high-speed trains from both Netherlands Railways (NS) and Belgian National Railways (SNCB).

THE first two of 35 six-car Siemens Inspiro metro trains entered passenger service in Warsaw on October 6.

BERLIN Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB) has shortlisted operators for a 15-year concession to operate the ring line of the Berlin S-Bahn, currently run by German Rail (DB).

RAIL will remain Spain's top transport priority in 2014 according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport's draft budget published last week, accounting for 51% of the total planned investment of €8.98bn. Rail spending will increase by 21% from €3.78bn this year to €4.58bn in 2014.