RUSSIAN Railways (RZD) has selected a consortium led by Mosgiprotrans and including Nizhegorodmetroproekt and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEC) to provide preliminary surveys and design for the proposed Moscow - Kazan high-speed line.

CHINA Railway Corporation (CRC) has awarded a contract worth around €70m to Vossloh Fastening Systems China for high-speed fastenings for installation on the final section of the Beijing - Harbin high-speed line which is currently under construction.

Despite the promises made in the run up to the 2014 World Cup, many passenger rail projects intended for the tournament struggled to get off the drawing board, with schemes cancelled or delayed due to political infighting and problems with securing funds. Kevin Smith assesses the current situation. 

TRENITALIA launched its new flagship high-speed train on April 25, when Italy's president Mr Sergio Mattarella, newly-appointed minister of transport and infrastructure Mr Graziano Delrio and tourism and culture minister Mr Dario Franceschini joined senior managers from Italian State Railways (FS), AnsaldoBreda, and Bombardier for the inaugural Milan - Rome trip on the Frecciarossa 1000.

OPEN-ACCESS high-speed operator NTV reached an agreement with Italy's rail unions on April 17 which aims to avert redundancy for 250 staff, around a quarter of the company's workforce.

SPAIN added a further section to its already extensive high-speed network on April 18, with the opening of a new section of the Atlantic Corridor between Santiago de Compostela and Vigo, in Galicia. The A Coruña – Santiago section opened in 2009 and was electrified in 2011.

CENTRAL Japan Railway Company (JR Central) set a new maglev world speed record on April 16, when a manned seven-car L0 series train reached 590km/h on the company's test track between Uenohara and Fuefuki in Yamanashi prefecture.

WORKERS at NTV, Italy's open-access high-speed operator, went on strike for the first time on April 10 as the operator pushes ahead with plans to dismiss 246 staff, or a quarter of the company's workforce, as a cost-cutting measure as it battles with its €670m debt.

CHINA Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group (CRSSD) is conducting a preliminary study of a planned 1754km high-speed line in India linking Delhi, Bhopal, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Chennai which it hopes to complete by August.

CONSTRUCTION of the delayed 26km Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou - Shenzhen - Hong Kong Express Rail Link (ERL) reached a milestone at the beginning of March with the breakthrough of the Ngau Tam Mei – Tai Kong Po tunnel.