TAIWAN has moved a step closer to nationalising embattled Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) after a plan to restructure the company's finances was rejected by the government.

THE president of SNCF, Mr Guillaume Pepy, and the director-general of Moroccan National Railways (ONCF), Mr Mohamed Rabie Khlie, have agreed to set up a joint company to maintain the fleet of TGV Duplex trains being supplied by Alstom for Morocco's first high-speed line.

CALIFORNIA marked the official start of construction on the state's high-speed network on January 6 with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future high-speed station in Fresno.

MEXICO's Federal Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) confirmed on January 4 that it will issue preliminary bidding documents on January 14 for a revised tender for the contract to build the 210km Mexico City - Queretaro high-speed line.

THE Russian government will allocate Russian Railways (RZD) Roubles 6bn ($US 108.3m) from the 2015 federal budget for the 770km Moscow - Kazan high-speed project.

CONSTRUCTION of the 857km link from Guiyang to Guangzhou, the first high-speed line in China's southwest karst region, was completed on December 21, with test operations set to begin by the end of this week.

TRENITALIA has signed two contracts with AnsaldoBreda for rolling stock maintenance services.

JR Central hosted ceremonies at Shinagawa station in Tokyo and at Nagoya station on December 17 to mark the start of construction on the Yen 5.5 trillion ($US 46.45bn) Chuo maglev line between the two cities.

TRENITALIA launched the first high-speed services to Rome Leonardo da Vinci airport on December 14, when selected Frecciargento services were extended to serve the airport station at Fiumicino.

A committee has been set up by Mexico's lower house policy board to investigate the tendering and subsequent cancellation of the contract to build the 210km Mexico City – Queretaro high-speed line.