AFTER 31 years of service, the operation of mail trains on the French high-speed network ceased on June 27, when a postal TGV made a final run between the terminals at Cavaillon in Marseilles and Charolais near Paris Gare du Lyon.

MITSUBISHI Electric has completed the installation of all-silicon carbide (SiC) power modules on an N700 Shinkansen train which JR Central has started to test.

SINGAPORE's Ministry of Transport has expressed surprise at suggestions made by Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission's (Spad) that the planned Kuala Lumpur - Singapore high-speed line should terminate short of the border between the two countries.

SWEDISH infrastructure manager Trafikverket has selected a consortium of Systra and Cowi, Denmark, to provide technical consultancy services for a section of the Ostlänken high-speed line, the first phase of a high-speed link from Stockholm to Gothenburg and Malmö.

INECO has announced that it will undertake a feasibility study of a proposed Egyptian high-speed line, linking the cities of Cairo and Luxor. The 600km long corridor would connect the two largest cities of the country, with the aim of strengthening tourism infrastructure.

A consortium of Főmterv and Ecoroad has won the tender to prepare the detailed feasibility study for building the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade high-speed line. The study will cost Forints 527m ($US 1.8m).

MEXICO's Federal Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) has agreed to pay $US 1.3m in damages to China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) for costs incurred in bidding for the cancelled Mexico City – Queretaro high-speed line.

A cross-party Dutch parliamentary committee, set up in December 2013 to investigate the V250 Fyra high-speed train fiasco, will start public hearings on May 18 which will continue until June 12.

A memorandum of cooperation between China and Russia was signed in the Kremlin on May 9 which Russia's Tass news agency says will result in China investing Roubles 104bn ($US 2bn) in the Roubles 1 trillion Moscow – Kazan high-speed project.

THE prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced on May 5 that a revised timeline will be drawn up for the 330km Singapore – Kuala Lumpur high-speed line as the scale and complexity of the project means the target launch date of 2020 agreed by the two countries in February 2013 cannot be met.