THE cost of constructing a high-speed line linking Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane could be a little over half the $A 114bn ($US 100bn) price tag estimated in an Australian government study, according to a report issued this week by the Australasian Railway Association (ARA).

THE construction of an east-west high-speed line in northern England and acceleration of the second phase of High-Speed 2 (HS2) .are among the proposals put forward by the chairman of HS2 Ltd Sir David Higgins in a report on Britain's high-speed rail strategy, which was unveiled in Manchester on October 27.

CHINA Railway Investment Corporation (CRIC) has begun procurement for 10 packages to supply onboard Chinese Train Control System (CTCS) equipment for 740 high-speed trains operated by China Railway Corporation (CRC).

WITH the 20th anniversary of the start of Eurostar high-speed cross-channel services between Britain and mainland Europe approaching next month, the operator reported a 3% increase year-on-year in passenger traffic to 2.8 million in the third quarter which ended on September 30.

MEXICO's Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT) confirmed on October 15 that a Chinese consortium has submitted the only bid in an international tender for a contract to design, build, operate, and maintain a 210km high-speed line linking Mexico City with Queretaro.

CHINA's premier Mr Li Keqiang and Russian prime minister Mr Dimitry Medvedev have overseen the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries for Russia's proposed Moscow - Kazan high-speed project, which could see Chinese companies invest up to $US 10bn in the $US 25bn undertaking.

THE British government has announced plans to sell its 40% stake in cross-Channel high-speed operator Eurostar to help reduce the national debt.

The British Treasury has set a deadline of October 31 for companies to prequalify to purchase the shares and it hopes to select investors during the first quarter of 2015. UBS is advising on the sale.

This month JR Central will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen, the world's first purpose-built high-speed railway. David Briginshaw explains the significance of this event and charts the development of the Shinkansen.

In preparation for the start of test operations of the complete tunnel system in autumn 2015, over 650 test runs were carried out on a 13km section of the Gotthard base tunnel in a six-month pilot scheme which ended in June. Anitra Green reports from Switzerland on progress to date.

China has built the world's largest high-speed rail network in less than a decade and construction costs for high-speed lines are now as much as a third lower than in other countries. Gerald Ollivier, Jitendra Sondhri and Nanyan Zhou from the World Bank's Beijing office explain how China continues to develop a world-class system with world-beating unit costs.