SOUTH Africa's Department of Transport has established a steering committee to oversee the development of the country's four proposed high-speed lines, together with an investor unit which will market the public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

A JOINT venture of Ganz, Hungary, and Škoda Transportation has been selected as preferred supplier for a contract to supply 31 low-floor LRVs to Miskolc in a deal worth around $US 104m, which includes an option for a further 10 vehicles worth $US 9.17m.

RUSSIAN wagon leasor Brunswick Rail has expanded its fleet to more than 20,000 after purchasing 2000 open wagons from Ukranian and Russian manufacturers on November 24.

HITACHI is reportedly seeking a domestic partner to set up a joint venture assembly plant in India.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded Alstom an e89m contract to supply its Atlas ETCS system on the 328km Eskisehir - Kutahya - Balikesir line.

VTG Rail, a subsidiary of VTG, Germany, has acquired SC Leasing, United States, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation of America, and its 2000 freight wagons, doubling VTG Rail's North American customer base.

FINNISH state-owned railway, VR Group, says it will begin the acquisition of 80 electric locomotives, with an option for an additional 97, in the next few months to replace its oldest SR-1s, 112 of which were built by Novcherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant between 1973 and 1996.

Höft & Wessel has secured a contract with Danish State Railways (DSB) to develop a multi-modal bluetooth ticket reader that can read RFID, OCR and barcode technologies utilised in a range of electronic tickets.

WESTBAHN has become the first open-access operator to challenge Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) in Austria's domestic long-distance market, with the launch on December 11 of its Vienna - Linz - Salzburg service.