AUSTRALIAN mining company Fortescue Metals has given the go-ahead to a $A 1.69bn ($US 1.29bn) project to develop a new iron-ore mine at Eliwana and extend its existing 160km heavy-haul freight rail network to serve it.

FOLLOWING a 10-day standstill period, the Welsh government appointed KeolisAmey as operator and development partner for the Wales & Borders franchise and South Wales Metro on June 4, confirming an investment of £1.9bn over the 15-year duration of the franchise.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has agreed with French leasing company Akiem to sell and lease back 45 class 186 Traxx MS2 four-voltage locomotives.

SWEDEN’s prime minister Mr Stefan Löfven announced on May 31 that the government has approved a project to complete quadrupling of the final section of double-track line between Stockholm and Uppsala.

POLAND’s national long-distance passenger operator, PKP Intercity, has awarded a Zlotys 367.6m ($US 99.6m) contract to Newag for 20 Griffin 3kV dc locomotives, as part of PKP Intercity’s Zlotys 7bn investment programme which runs until 2023.

RUHRBAHN, Germany, has issued a call for tender for the supply of 26 metre-gauge LRVs for operation on the inner-city tram networks is Bochum, Essen, Mülheim, and Oberhausen.

THE Polish government has taken control of financially-troubled train builder Pesa with all of the company’s shares being acquired by the Polish Development Fund (PFR).

SEVERAL groups are believed to be bidding for the 12-year concession to operate the Buenos Aires metro, with the winner expected to take over the metro on January 1 2019 from Metrovías which has operated it since privatisation in 1994.

ACCORDING to a report by SCI Verkehr, the market for railway products and services in Africa and the Middle East is forging ahead, with an average annual growth rate of 4% predicted between now and 2022.

AN agreement was signed in the Estonian capital Tallinn on May 29 by the railways of three Baltic states to launch a new intermodal freight service called Amber Train.