TANZANIA is in the process of securing an advisor for a $US 1bn public-private partnership (PPP) scheme to upgrade Tanzania Railways' (TR) 970km metre-gauge line linking Dar es Salaam with Dodoma, Tabora and Isaka.

Railway owners, operators and maintainers are facing increasing pressure to further reduce maintenance windows and maximize operational time, but at some point there is an absolute minimum window time for which an activity is cost effective. Maintainers will have to further optimise their activities to meet these demands with the added benefit of reducing unit costs, as Lee Taylor, director and owner of Asia Rail Consulting, Hong Kong, explains.

Protran Technology and QinetiQ North America are working with Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) to develop the first real-time network of remote sensors installed on continuous welded rail to detect defects. Michael Davis, director of rail operations with Protran Technology, explains how the system will work.

THE president of Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO), H E Mohamed Al-Suwaiket, has signed a Riyals 122.9m ($US 32.8m) contract with China Railway Construction Corporation for the renewal of a 78.4km stretch of the Damman – Harad – Riyadh freight line.

FRENCH surveyors FIT ESIC are creating a 3D topographical map of track and lineside equipment for French National Railways (SNCF) using the StreetMapper LiDAR laser surveying system developed by 3D Laser Mapping, Britain.

THE president of Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO), H E Mohamed Al-Suwaiket, has signed a Riyals 391.5m ($US 104.4m) contract with a Saudi contractor for the first phase of track-doubling on the Riyadh - Harad - Dammam freight-only line.

BRITAIN's infrastructure manager, Network Rail, has awarded a 10-year alliance contract to Colas Rail and URS, United States, to renew switches and crossings in southern England and Wales.

BALFOUR Beatty and Carillion have announced that they are in talks over a possible merger that could create a £3bn construction and services business.

FRANCE's minister of transport, Mr Frédéric Cuvilier, has approved the staging of three public inquires in October related to the so-called Grand Southwest Railway Project (GPSO).

FOLLOWING a successful pilot at Loughton and Waterloo stations, London Underground (LU) is extending its Poss railway conditioning monitoring system supplied by Strukton to monitor turnouts at other locations on its network.