SWEDISH infrastructure manager Trafikverket has awarded Dutch rail construction and maintenance company Strukton Rail a contract worth around €80m to maintain 680km of track on the northern part of the Southern Main Line from Malmö to Katrineholm near Stockholm.

TATA Steel has been awarded a contract to supply 60,000 tonnes of rail for the 444km Haramain high-speed line between Mecca, Jeddah, and Medina, which is currently under construction.

A ceremony was held in southern Bavaria on July 29 to formally launch the construction of a second track on the 11km Mühldorf – Tussling line.

China's Shuo Huang Railway is aiming to almost triple capacity on its heavy-haul network by 2018 as it tries to keep pace with growing demand for coal. Kevin Smith examines its plans.

NEW ZEALAND's national railway KiwiRail has taken delivery of three tampers and three ballast regulators, which were ordered in October 2011 at a cost of $NZ 12m ($US 9.6m).

SPANISH infrastructure manager Adif has awarded a number of contracts for the extension standard gauge tracks south along the Mediterranean coast from Barcelona to Tarragona and Valencia.

STATE Railway of Thailand (SRT) is preparing to invite bids for the initial phase of its national track-doubling programme, which will provide much-needed additional capacity on the metre-gauge network.

INFRASTRUCTURE maintenance and construction company Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group is to take on most of the workforce and contracts of Universale Bau, a subsidiary of Austria's insolvent Alpine Bau Group.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) says a detached switch fishplate is likely to be cause of the derailment of an inter-city train on July 12 at Brétigny-sur-Orge south of Paris in which six people died and 62 were injured.

CHILEAN State Railways (EFE) has revised its plans for the re-inauguration of freight services over the Chilean section of the Arica to La Paz Railway (FCALP).