FOLLOWING China's first public tender for low-floor LRVs, CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock has been awarded a contract to supply 18 Flexity 2 vehicles for the first phase of the light rail network in Suzhou, which is currently under construction.

JANUARY 9 is the 150th anniversary of the world's first underground urban railway, which officially opened in the British capital between Paddington and Farringdon on January 9 1863. The former Metropolitan Railway carried its first passengers the following day in steam-hauled trains.

EAST German Railway Company (Odeg) introduced the first of 16 Stadler Kiss class 445 double-deck emus on regional express services on the Rathenow - Jüterbog line on January 8. This follows the approval for the first four trains by Germany's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) on December 21 and subsequent approval of a fifth train.

HUNGARIAN State Railways (MÁV) announced on January 4 that Stadler is the sole bidder for the supply of 48 low-floor emus, 42 of which will be purchased by regional operator MÁV-Start and six by Györ-Sopron-Ebenfurth Railway (GySEV).

SPAIN celebrated the completion of Iberia's first high-speed connection with the rest of Europe on January 8 with the inauguration of the 131km line between Figueres and Barcelona, which completes the 804km high-speed line between Madrid and the French border.

TAIWAN's Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) approved plans on January 7 for the construction of the first phase of a light rail line serving the Danshui district of New Taipei City, paving the way for construction to begin later this year.

WITH the signing of a 12-year agreement with Whitehaven Coal, Aurizon (formerly QR National) is preparing to significantly expand its coal operation in New South Wales from July 2014.

ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV announced the results for its first eight months of operation on January 7, revealing it carried more than 2 million passengers on its Italo services from its launch on April 28 to the end of December.

SYNERAIL, the PPP consortium appointed by French Rail Network (RFF) in 2010 to install, operate and maintain GSM-R across 11,000km of the network has completed its first two projects.

GERMANY's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) granted Siemens approval on December 21 for the operation of Vectron locomotives on the German mainline network.