STADLER held a groundbreaking ceremony at St Margrethen in eastern Switzerland on July 4 to mark the start of construction on an SFr 86m ($US 86m) rolling stock plant, which will take over production of Kiss double-deck EMUs from the company’s plant in nearby Altenrhein.

TESTING of the first driverless metro train for Singapore’s Thomson-East Coast Line is underway at Mandai depot in the north of the island in preparation for the opening of the first phase of the line at the end of next year.

CANADIAN National (CN) and Vossloh have signed a multi-annual framework contract for the supply of turnouts, following on from a similar agreement for concrete sleepers, which was signed in April.

RAIL freight volumes in the Netherlands declined by 6.1% last year, despite a 1.4% increase in the overall freight transport market, according to newly-published figures from the Dutch Central Statistics Office (CBS).

JOURNEY times between the Pearl River Delta and the western part of China’s Guangdong province were shortened significantly on July 1 with the opening of a new 200km/h line from Jiangmen to Maoming.

SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) has launched work on a SFr 4.4m ($US 4.4m) maintenance hall for passenger trains in Brig with a ground breaking ceremony on June 26.

THE government of the state of Mato Grosso in the centre-west region of Brazil has announced a tender to resume the light rail project in Cuiabá, which was originally due to open in time for the 2014 football World Cup.

US regional and shortline railway operator Watco is set to expand its Australian operations after signing a contract with grain marketer and handler GrainCorp to operate its trains in the state of Queensland.

THE Netherlands government has decided to reconstruct and expand Amsterdam Central and Amsterdam South stations in order to improve accessibility to the Dutch capital and increase the capacity of the city’s rail network.