THE Swiss Federal Transport Office and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) have agreed a budget of SFr 7.6bn ($US 7.7bn) to fund rail infrastructure for the 2017-2020 period which is 15% more than the current 2013-2016 agreement.

GERMAN Rail (DB) says that it has used more than 100 trains to transport 22,000 refugees entering Germany from neighbouring countries to various accommodation facilities during the last few days.

MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries (MHI) is preparing to deliver a new five-car rubber-tyred suburban train to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Transportation for use on the Nippori - Toneri line from October 10.

EDMONTON's troubled $C 665m ($US 501.4m) Metro Line light rail project began limited operations on September 6, around 16 months after the line was due to enter service.

CONSTRUCTION of the first light rail line in the Chinese city of Huai'an, in Jiangsu province, is nearing completion and the first LRVs are expected to be certified for operation by the end of the year.

INDIA's prime minister, Mr Narendra Modi, officially opened a 14km extension to the north-south Violet Line (Line 6) of Delhi metro on September 6. 

KOCHI Metro Rail (KMRL) has unveiled the design of the 25 three-car Metropolis trains that Alstom is supplying for the city's new elevated metro line.

THE first two of 21 metro trains being supplied by a joint venture of Marubeni and Toshiba for Bangkok's new Purple Line Project departed from Yokohama on September 7. 

PASSENGER trains started running on the Borders Railway for the first time in 46 years on September 6 following the completion of a £294m project to reopen the 48km line from Edinburgh south to Tweedbank. 

THE Indonesian government has scrapped a project to build a high-speed line between Jakarta and Bandung disappointing Japanese and Chinese bidders that were competing for the $US 5bn project. However, the government has left the door open for a new main line between the two cities.