CATALONIA Government Railways (FGC) is to refurbish 42 class 213 EMUs used on the Llobregat - Anoia line following the presentation of the first upgraded set to Catalonia's minister for regional policy Mr Santi Vila.

A one-week programme of dynamic testing began on July 21 on the first light rail line in Taiwan's second city Kaohsiung.

SPAIN's national operator Renfe will launch a tender in September for the supply of 40 high-speed trains under a €1.1bn framework contract to be awarded during 2016, according to its president Mr Pablo Vázquez.

DORTMUND City Authority, which operates a 75km tram and light rail network under the name DSW21, has invited bids for contracts to modernise existing trams and acquire new LRVs.

THE Australian government and the country's railway industry have launched the Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (RMCRC), a collaboration between industry organisations, research universities and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

THE Japanese government has offered to fund the construction of India's first high-speed line linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad provided 30% of the rolling stock is supplied by Japanese companies.

TROUBLES continue at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) after last week's sacking of its chief executive, suspension of a senior engineer, and a commuter train collision on July 17 that left 200 people injured.

IRISH Rail (IE) passenger traffic rose by 3.5% to 18.9 million, or an extra 650,000 passenger journeys, during the first six months of 2015 compared with the same period last year.

EUROSTAR has finally completed the refurbishment of the first train from its existing fleet of class 373 trains (dubbed e300 by Eurostar) and the train will re-enter service shortly.

GERMAN Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio has been selected by Schleswig-Holstein transport authority NAH.SH for the Schleswig-Holstein Rail Network West concession, which covers the operation of regional services on the line from Hamburg to Westerland on the island of Sylt.