SPAIN's track authority Adif has awarded a €61m contract to Thales to maintain signalling and train control equipment on the Madrid - Cordoba -Seville, La Sagra - Toledo and Cordoba - Malaga high-speed lines.

THE British House of Commons Select Committee on the High-Speed 2 (HS2) Hybrid Bill has published its final report. The bill will now go forward for further consideration in the House of Parliament and then the House of Lords.

JR East, Japan, plans to spend Yen 1.04 trillion ($US 9.1bn) on upgrading its Tokyo - Morioka and Niigata – Omiya high-speed lines from 2031.

The first bullet trains to reach the northernmost of Japan's three main islands, Hokkaido, will begin operating next month. Yoshihiko Sato profiles the latest addition to the Shinkansen network.

IN the first deployment of its type in France, telecoms operator Orange has completed the rollout of a public LTE network on the Paris - Lyon high-speed line, providing continuous onboard 4G coverage on TGV services at speeds of up to 300km/h.

BOMBARDIER has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bozankaya, a Turkish LRV car body manufacturer, to bid for Turkish State Railways' (TCDD) forthcoming tender for 80 high-speed trains, which is expected to be published shortly.

FRENCH transport minister Mr Alain Vidalies has approved the preliminary route and station locations for the 150km Montpellier - Perpignan high-speed line, paving the way for a public inquiry into the project, which is expected to begin at the end of this year.

A DILEMMA confronts Indian Railways (IR) as it goes into 2016. While it is heartening that the country's public transporter has initiated moves to take the rail travel experience to the next level through the infusion of private and foreign funds and modern technology, it is equally distressing to find that the basic performance parameters have been showing a downward trend.

THE Swedish government has begun consultation with local authorities along the route of the proposed Ostlänken high-speed line as infrastructure manager Trafikverket prepares to launch procurement for the project.

INNOVATION is the key to success as it will improve our competitiveness by providing leading-edge technologies. We have to make sure we are always one step ahead of others when it comes to technology and know-how - especially in the areas of energy efficiency, productivity/throughput, asset utilisation, improvements in infrastructure and rolling stock availability, travel experience for passengers, and, last but not least, climate and environmental friendliness.