THE consortium building the second metro line in Warsaw has confirmed that construction is now 95% complete and works are on course for the handover of the line to Warsaw Metro next month.

FINLAND's national train operator VR Group has reported increased profits for the second quarter but while there was growth in the freight business passenger traffic declined.

LIVERPOOL City Region published its long-term rail strategy on August 27, which sets out how the city hopes to improve links both within Merseyside and to towns and cities further afield.

CIVIL works have begun on the first phase of the third light metro line in Mexico's second-largest city Guadalajara.

LOCOMOTIVE leasing company Akiem has signed a contract worth €33m with Bombardier for the delivery of 10 140km/h Traxx DC locomotives, with an option for up to 10 additional units placing the value of the contract at approximately €65m.

POLISH open-access operator CTL Logistics, Poland, carried approximately 7 million tonnes of railfreight in the first half of 2014, including 1.3 million tonnes in Germany, a fall of 8% compared with the same period in 2013.

DYNAMIC testing of the first LRV for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is underway at the CNR Changchun plant in China.

THE president of Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO), H E Mohamed Al-Suwaiket, has signed a Riyals 122.9m ($US 32.8m) contract with China Railway Construction Corporation for the renewal of a 78.4km stretch of the Damman – Harad – Riyadh freight line.

CONSTRUCTION is expected to begin in October on a 339km direct line linking Chongqing with Changsha, the capital of China's Hunan province, after China's Ministry of Environmental Protection approved plans for the Yuan 37.6bn ($US 6.1bn) project.