ISRAEL Railways has prequalified four groups for the design, installation and maintenance of slab track and electro-mechanical systems on the A1 fast rail link between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

SCI Verkehr's latest study of the railway infrastructure market, which was valued at €56.9bn in 2012, identifies the structural changes underway as well as the ranking of the top players. Karl Strang of SCI Verkehr analyses the trends.

An innovative concept for turnouts functioning in sub-zero temperatures that eliminates the need for a point heater has been developed by Dutch mechanical design engineer, Richard de Roos, at his own risk and expense.

While measuring wheelsets offer the potential to improve track alignment quality analysis, adoption by infrastructure managers has generally been slow. Swiss company Prose's new web-based system aims to improve the economics of the process, as its general manager and head of measuring wheelsets, Dipl-Ing André Rohrbeck, explains.

VOSSLOH Rail Services (VRS) and Düsseldorf's Rheinbahn marked the 17th International Noise Awareness day on April 30 by showcasing Vossloh's prototype High Speed Grinding (HSG) City track maintenance machine during an event at Rheinbahn's Lierenfelder Straße depot.

NIPPON Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NS&SMC) announced on April 16 that it has upgraded rail production and handling facilities at its Yawata steel works in the Japanese prefecture of Fukuoka to produce and distribute 150m-long rails, which the company claims are the longest in the world.

THE German Rail Industry Association (VDB) says sales of railway equipment increased by 42% in 2013 to a new record of €14.9bn compared with weak performance in 2012.

THE director general of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) Mr Süleyman Karaman says construction is complete on the Istanbul - Eskisehir section of the 533km high-speed line to Ankara allowing test running to begin.

THE main line linking London, Plymouth and Penzance reopened today following repairs costing £35m to damage caused by major storms in February to the coastal section at Dawlish between Exeter and Plymouth.

NORWEGIAN infrastructure manager Jernbaneverket (JBV) has issued prequalification documents for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the Ski -Langus section of the Follo Line upgrade project, which is currently Norway's largest transport infrastructure project.