THE Australian state of Victoria has awarded the final contracts for the $A 11bn ($US 8.4bn) Metro Tunnel project to build a 9km twin-bore tunnel and five stations under the centre of Melbourne to create a new cross-city line from Sunbury to Cranbourne/Pakenham.

THE President of Italy’s Puglia region, Mr Michele Emiliano, has announced that a 189km section of South East Railway (FSE) in the Salento area will be electrified.

THE first five 250km/h ICE4 series-production trains which Siemens is supplying to German Rail (DB) entered regular passenger service on December 10 on the Hamburg - Munich and Hamburg - Frankfurt - Stuttgart main lines.

SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) and Stadler have been testing a new digital train driver assistance system on the Bern - Olten high-speed line and, for the first time in Switzerland, a double-deck train has been automatically braked and accelerated with the train driver in attendance.

ITALY’s infrastructure manager Italian Rail Network (RFI) has awarded a €186m contract for track-doubling and infrastructure modernisation on a 38km section of the Palermo - Catania main line in Sicily.

Delays in the installation of ETCS onboard equipment send more ripples through signalling programme.

BRITAIN’s National Audit Office says that the £7bn Thameslink project to upgrade routes through London has a realistic prospect of delivering value for money, but the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail (NR) now face a challenge to introduce the new expanded services, as they failed to start preparation early enough.

IN light of serious difficulties with the installation onboard equipment, the Danish government has pushed back the completion date for the nationwide rollout of ERTMS from 2023 to 2030.

SINGAPORE’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has signed a contract with Alstom for the supply of communications-based train control (CBTC), which will support driverless operation on the 4km stage six and final extension of the Circle Line.

EGYPT National Railways has awarded Thales a three-year contract to modernise the signalling and telecommunications system used on the 180km Asyut - Nagh Hammadi line on the north-south Alexandria - Cairo - Aswan rail corridor.