FOLLOWING recent discussions between the board of Italian open-access high-speed operator NTV and trade unions, the operator has hinted at several reforms to achieve its goal of breaking even by 2020, including a capital increase of €70-100m and the purchase of six to 10 new high-speed trains.

SPAIN's Council of Ministers has authorised the Ministry of Development to approve a tender by Adif High Speed worth €266m for the construction of three sections of the Basque Y high-speed network linking Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián with Irun on the French border.

THE British Treasury has sold the government's 40% stake high-speed train operator Eurostar for £585.1m to Patina Rail, a Canadian-British consortium of fund managers. Eurostar has also agreed to redeem the government's £172m preference share once the sale has been finalised which will increase the total value of the sale to £757.1m.

THE board of Italian open-access high-speed operator NTV appointed Mr Flavio Cattaneo as its new CEO on February 26, and also approved new strategic and business plans for the company.

FRENCH president Mr François Hollande, French secretary of state for transport Mr Alain Vidalies and Italian infrastructure and transport minister Mr Maurizio Lupi signed an agreement to go ahead with a new €26bn railway linking Lyon and Turin during an international summit in Paris on February 24.

THE board of Moroccan National Railways (ONCF) approved a capital budget of Dirhams 7.5bn ($US 780m) for this year at a meeting in Rabat on February 19, which was chaired by minister for infrastructure, transport and logistics Mr Aziz Rabbah.

Labelled the endless city, China's Pearl River Delta comprises an almost continuous conurbation. As Hans-Ulrich Riedel explains, a vast network of metro, light rail and high-speed lines is being developed to serve the 45 million people who live in the region.

The extraordinary growth of China's high-speed network has been one of the defining rail trends of recent years, but the pace of expansion has made charting traffic development a challenging process. Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri and Nanyan Zhou from the World Bank's Beijing office uncover usage trends from the initial years of operation and consider how traffic might develop in the future.

Next month sees the launch of the latest addition to Japan's high-speed network with the start of commercial services on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. Keith Barrow reports from Japan on the new line from Nagano to Kanazawa and plans for further extensions.

SALES at Eurostar increased by 1% in 2014 to £867m following a 3% increase in passengers to 10.4 million on its services from Britain to continental Europe.