JANUARY 9 is the 150th anniversary of the world's first underground urban railway, which officially opened in the British capital between Paddington and Farringdon on January 9 1863. The former Metropolitan Railway carried its first passengers the following day in steam-hauled trains.
The first phase of a major upgrade of the Chicago - St Louis corridor through the heart of Illinois is complete. And with work continuing to finish the entire project by 2017, the line is considered a bellwether for future improvements to freight corridors that carry passenger services in the United States, as Kevin Smith and Railway Age managing editor Douglas John Bowen discover.
Austria celebrated the opening of the new line from Vienna to St Pölten last month. While passenger journey times have been slashed, freight traffic is suffering from some early teething problems, as Erwin Reidinger reports.
In their rush to extract western Africa's vast mineral wealth, mining companies are revitalising existing, and building new, heavy-haul rail lines. Paul Ash presents a comprehensive round-up of the latest activities in the region.
EAST German Railway Company (Odeg) introduced the first of 16 Stadler Kiss class 445 double-deck emus on regional express services on the Rathenow - Jüterbog line on January 8. This follows the approval for the first four trains by Germany's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) on December 21 and subsequent approval of a fifth train.
HUNGARIAN State Railways (MÁV) announced on January 4 that Stadler is the sole bidder for the supply of 48 low-floor emus, 42 of which will be purchased by regional operator MÁV-Start and six by Györ-Sopron-Ebenfurth Railway (GySEV).
SPAIN celebrated the completion of Iberia's first high-speed connection with the rest of Europe on January 8 with the inauguration of the 131km line between Figueres and Barcelona, which completes the 804km high-speed line between Madrid and the French border.
TAIWAN's Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) approved plans on January 7 for the construction of the first phase of a light rail line serving the Danshui district of New Taipei City, paving the way for construction to begin later this year.
WITH the signing of a 12-year agreement with Whitehaven Coal, Aurizon (formerly QR National) is preparing to significantly expand its coal operation in New South Wales from July 2014.
ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV announced the results for its first eight months of operation on January 7, revealing it carried more than 2 million passengers on its Italo services from its launch on April 28 to the end of December.
