ISRAEL Railways (IR) has launched the procurement process for its first electric trains by issuing a request for information (RFI) from potential suppliers of locomotives and multiple units.

BHP Billiton has abandoned previously-announced plans for a 250km single-user standard-gauge railway linking its Bowen Basin coalfields in northern Queensland with expanded port facilities at Abbott Point.

DENMARK has secured €11.5m from the European Union's (EU) TEN-T programme to help fund a €115.5m project to electrify the 57km Lunderskov – Esbjerg line and improve rail links to the port of Esbjerg.

LOCAL authorities in Stockholm have reached an agreement on the expansion of city's metro network to support the construction of 78,000 new homes, which will help to meet rapidly-rising demand for housing in the Swedish capital.

THE 5km southern extension of Moscow metro Line 7 from Ryazanskiy Prospekt to Zhulebino was inaugurated on November 9 by the chairman of the Moscow Department of Construction Mr Andrey Bochkarev and Moscow Metro president Mr Ivan Besedin.

THE governor of Maryland Mr Martin O'Malley and members of the state's Board of Public Works (BPW) have approved the Maryland Transit Administration's (MTA) plan to implement the construction of the Washington Purple Line as a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

TRANSPORT for Greater Manchester (TfGM) announced on November 8 that its Capital Projects and Policy Sub-Committee has backed plans to develop a tram-train strategy for the city and surrounding area.

UNITED Wagon Company (UWC), Russia, and Tatravagonka, Slovakia, have formed a joint venture company, Railway Casted Components (RCC), which will produce Barber bogie castings for 1520mm-gauge wagons.

BRITAIN'S Chancellor Mr George Osborne announced on November 7 that the government will establish a taskforce to study accelerating passenger services between London and eastern England.

ALMOST 30 years after the project was conceived, the Salerno Metro suburban line was inaugurated on November 4 by the city's Mayor Mr Vincenzo De Luca.