IRAQI Republic Railways has issued two calls for tender for the supply of track maintenance equipment as part of the long process to rehabilitate the 1900km railway after the devastating war.

THE first light rail line was officially opened on July 4 in Constantine, Algeria's third largest city with a population of around 900,000. Commercial services were due to begin on July 5.

RIFT Valley Railways (RVR), the concessionaire operating the 2352km Kenya-Uganda metre-gauge railway, has completed a 10-month project to repair a 73km stretch of the 530km Mombasa – Nairobi main line. Nevertheless, the Kenyan government is dissatisfied with RVR's performance.

TAIWAN High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) has awarded a consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Toshiba the contract for trackwork and electrical & mechanical (E&M) works on the 9.2km extension of the Kaohsiung – Taipei high-speed line from Taipei Railway Station to Nangang.

BRITAIN's Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) published its 2013 Periodic Review of Network Rail (NR) on June 12, which sets out how the regulator expects how the infrastructure manager to reduce costs by £2bn during Control Period 5 (CP5), the 2014-19 funding period.

Reducing ground-borne noise and vibration remains a major challenge for railways aiming to increase freight traffic volumes.

IRJ at IAF Münster: Matisa has unveiled its new B66U track machine which is available in continuous and non-continuous versions and includes a number of new innovations aimed at improving performance and reducing operation times.

TRANSLINK Northern Ireland Railways is carrying out a trial with Irish Rail's Plasser & Theurer RM-90-IR ballast cleaner on the Newry – Poyntzpass section of the Belfast – Dublin line.

EDMONTON Transit has awarded Axion International Holdings, United States, a contract to supply its Ecotrax 100% recycled composite sleepers for use on the city's light rail network.

EIFFAGE Rail Express, the PPP contractor responsible for designing, building and maintaining the 182km Bretagne – Pays de la Loire high-speed line between Le Mans and Rennes, has awarded Vossloh Cogifer a contract to supply more than 100 turnouts and crossings for the €3.3bn project.