HAMEDAN, a city of nearly 500,000 inhabitants in western Iran, finally joined the national railway network on May 8, when the country’s president Dr Hassan Rouhani made an inaugural trip on the 276km line from Tehran.

CONSTRUCTION of the first high-speed line in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia on May 7, when high-speed testing commenced on part of the 286.8km line from Hohhot to Zhangjiakou in neighbouring Hebei province.

AN agreement to carry out technical and economic studies into the extension of Barcelona metro Line 3 and the Trambaix light rail network was signed by Catalonia’s minister of territory and sustainability Mr Josep Rull and the mayor of Esplugues de Llobregat Mrs Pilar Díaz on May 5.

CZECH Railways (ČD) has confirmed it will lease 10 multi-system Siemens Vectron locomotives to modernise motive power on Prague - Berlin - Hamburg services.

A tender notice for contracts to build and operate an 18.5km light rail line in the Brazilian city of Salvador was published in the official journal of the state of Bahia on May 3.

TRIAL operation began on May 1 on the eastern section of the 51km Klang Valley MRT Sungai Buloh - Kajang Line (Line MRT1) in Kuala Lumpur.

THE Northeast Corridor Commission submitted two reports to Congress on May 3 detailing short-and-long-term capital investment needs totalling around $38bn for the 735km line from Boston to New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

THE Industrial Development and Renovation Organisation of Iran (Idro) has signed a joint venture contract with Transmashholding (TMH), Russia, to manufacture freight and passenger rolling stock in Iran.

RB Rail, the company set up to oversee the Rail Baltica high-speed rail project to link the three Baltic states to Poland, has appointed its management team and published the results of a cost-benefit analysis.

CRRC Corporation announced on May 5 that it is planning to build a plant in eastern Canada to manufacture freight wagons and components as it seeks to expand its presence in the North American rolling stock market.