RZD president Mr Vladimir Yakunin talks to Keith Barrow about the railway’s priorities for 2012 and beyond.

RIO de Janeiro suburban rail operator SuperVia has selected CNR Changchun, China, as the preferred bidder for a Reais 542.6m ($US 320.1m) contract to supply 60 emus. Other bidders included CSR, CAF, and Alstom.

THE Mayor of London Mr Boris Johnson says that some key lines on the London Underground (LU) network will be fully automated within two years, with several others set to follow by 2018.

ESTABLISHING the European Railway Agency (ERA) as the sole body responsible for safety certification and authorising the entry of vehicles into service is at the heart of the future vision for the agency presented by the Community of European Railways (CER) and the European Railway Industry Association (Unife).

PRE-qualified bidders Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi, and Siemens have all been invited to submit their bids for a tender for the 60 new trains required for Britain's 118km Crossrail project.

GROUNDBREAKING ceremonies were held in the town of Petaluma, north of San Francisco, on Friday to mark the start of construction on the $US 690m Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit (Smart) commuter rail project, which involves reintroducing passenger services on the 113km Northwestern Pacific Railroad line from Cloverdale to Larkspur.

THE International Union of Railways (UIC), the European Commission and the European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency has launched the Satloc programme's pilot project on the 27km Brasov - Zarnesti branch line in Romania. The project aims to prove the viability of satellite positioning equipment in train control, paving the way for use of the system on low-traffic lines.

THE FIRST of two Škoda City Elefant double-deck emus for Ukrainian State Railways (UZ) arrived at the Velim test track near Prague on February 26 for testing.