THE Bulgarian capital Sofia celebrated the opening of its second metro line on August 31 with a day of free rides, a music festival, and an exhibition of Roman artefacts unearthed during construction.

Amtrak's revised vision for the Northeast Corridor calls for bold investments of $US 110bn to improve existing infrastructure and to construct a new dedicated high-speed line over the next 30 years. Kevin Smith examines the plans for North America's most important passenger railway.

PERTH's first light rail line, the Metro Area Express (MAX), has been given the green light with the Western Australian and Federal Governments committing $A 15.8m ($US 16.2m) to a feasibility study that will include engineering and design studies and public consultation.

THE FRENCH city of Dijon inaugurated its first light rail line on September 1, with a weekend of free rides preceding the start of full commercial services on September 3.

GEORGE KENT, the Malaysian contractor responsible for trackwork and railway systems on Kuala Lumpur's Ampang Line extension, has selected Thales to supply its SelTrac Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system for the existing 27km line and the 17.7km southwestern extension, which is currently under construction.

Korea's latest experimental high-speed train, Hemu430X, was unveiled in Changwon on May 16, and is now being tested with a view to achieving a new Korean speed record of 430km/h later this year, explains Dr G H Kang with Hyundai Rotem's R&D centre.

While German Rail (DB) is performing well financially, it still faces some tough challenges as it deals with threats to its existence as a fully-integrated railway and copes with the aftermath of past misjudgements. DB's CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube (pictured) reveals in an exclusive interview with David Briginshaw how the railway is addressing these issues.

The semi-trailer market offers a huge growth potential for European intermodal operators providing height restrictions on key transalpine corridors can be overcome. Anitra Green reports on a technical innovation that could provide an answer.

German Rail broke two of its own records - for passenger traffic and revenue - in the first half of 2012, and despite a drop in freight, Ebit also grew strongly. David Briginshaw reports from Berlin on DB's cautious optimism for the rest of the year.

RUSSIAN Railways' (RZD) revenue rose by 9% last year to Roubles 1481bn ($US 46.3bn) due primarily to a 5.7% increase in revenue freight traffic and what RZD describes as an 8% tariff indexation.