THE Western Australian state government has committed to build both its planned Perth light rail and airport rail links despite considerable doubt about a federal government contribution.

THE government of the Australian state of Queensland has awarded a consortium led by Thiess Australia a $A 650m ($US 583m) contract to build the second phase of the $A 1.15bn Moreton Bay Rail Link.

LIQUIDATORS have been appointed to wind up Australian niche railfreight operator El Zorro Transport after the company incurred debts reported to be in excess of $A 10m ($US 9.2m).

NATIONAL Railway Equipment Company (NREC), United States, has won a contract to supply seven multi-engine N-ViroMotive locomotives to Pacific National, Australia, for shunting operations operation at the BlueScope steelworks at Port Kembla in New South Wales.

BROCKMAN Mining subsidiary Brockman Australia has entered into an exclusive three-year agreement with railfreight operator Aurizon, which will develop and operate the rail infrastructure for Brockman's Marillana and Ophthalmia iron-ore projects in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

THE Thiess John Holland Dragados joint venture has been awarded a $A 1.15bn ($US 1.1bn) contract to build the tunnels and underground stations for Sydney's North West Rail Link (NWRL). This is the first of three major NWRL contracts to be awarded.

PUBLIC Transport Victoria (PTV) has awarded Alstom a contract worth around $A 121.5m ($US 111.8m) to supply eight additional six-car X'Trapolis emus for the Melbourne suburban network.

THE 2013-14 New South Wales budget has delivered a significant boost for rail projects in the Australian state, with more than $A 6bn ($US 5.7bn) allocated to new public transport and freight investment over the next four years.

THE New South Wales government has indicated that it will adopt driverless technology for the 23km North West Rail Link (NWRL), making it the first completely driverless mass transit system in Australia.

DESPITE speculation that Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) might not proceed with its implementation of an Advanced Train Management System (ATMS) on the interstate network, a further $A 50m ($US 49m) was allocated in last week's Federal Budget to allow the technology to be rolled out on the Port Augusta - Tarcoola line.