IRJ at UIC World Congress on High-Speed Rail: Turkey’s transport minister Mr Ahmet Arslan told delegates at the UIC World Congress on High-Speed Rail in Ankara this week that Turkish State Railways (TCDD) YHT high-speed services will be extended from their current terminus in the eastern suburb of Pendik to the centre of the city by the end of 2018.

IRJ at the UIC World Congress on High-Speed Rail, Ankara: Spanish infrastructure manager Adif and Ineco, Spain, will present a feasibility study to the Indian government shortly looking into the construction of a section of the planned high-speed line linking Mumbai with Nagpur.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has confirmed it is planning to boost seating capacity on domestic services on HSL South in addition to the previously-announced increase in frequencies to cope with a surge in passenger numbers.

CZECH infrastructure manager SŽDC has awarded engineering consultancy Sudop Praha a Koruna 6.9m ($US 320,000) contract to carry out a feasibility study into the construction of a high-speed line linking Prague with Brno and Breclav on the Austrian border.

TEXAS Central announced on May 2 that it has appointed Bechtel to provide project management services for its scheme to develop a privately-funded high-speed line linking Dallas and Houston.

HS1 Ltd, the owner and infrastructure manager of the high-speed link between London St Pancras and the Channel Tunnel, says it is in discussions with Eurotunnel, SNCF Network and Lisea about introducing direct London - Bordeaux high-speed services.

A financing agreement committing €116.9m in EU funding towards the deployment of ERTMS on the Paris - Lyon high-speed line was presented to French transport minister, Ms Elisabeth Borne, by European Transport Commissioner, Ms Violeta Bulc, at the TEN-T Days event in Ljubljana on April 25.

THE government of the Australian state of Victoria says it will provide $A 50m ($US 37.8m) in its upcoming 2018-19 budget for investigations into options for a high-speed rail link between Melbourne and Geelong, with detailed planning work and technical investigations set to begin.

DETAILS of a new fleet of high-speed trains to serve venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics were revealed by China Railway Corporation (CRC) on April 23.

Morocco is making final preparations for the opening of the 183km high-speed line from Tangiers to Kenitra. Keith Barrow reports on the final stages of this pioneering project.