TRIAL passenger operation on the second tram line in the Chinese city of Suzhou commenced on August 25 with six days of free travel on the 18.5km Suzhou New District Line 2. Full operation began on August 31.

Rail freight traffic between China and Europe has grown rapidly since China introduced a range of measures, including subsidies, to make rail more attractive to shippers. David Briginshaw reports from the UIC Global Rail Freight Conference in Genoa on the prospects for the market.

CHINA’s top economic planning authority, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the third phase of the Suzhou metro network on August 14, authorising the construction of four lines totalling 137km at a cost of around Yuan 95bn ($US 13.7bn).

CHINA Railway Corporation (CRC) shaved five minutes off the Beijing - Tianjin journey time on August 8 with the restoration of 350km/h operation on the 117km high-speed line between the two cities.

THE United States Congress is moving towards a one-year ban on the use of federal funding for the purchase rolling stock from Chinese government-owned or subsidised companies, according to Mr Jeff Davis, senior fellow at the Washington-based think-tank Eno Center for Transportation.

CHINA marked a decade of high-speed rail development on August 1, when celebrations were held to mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of the country’s first railway designed for operation at speeds of more than 250km/h.

SHANGHAI Shentong Metro Group announced on July 18 that it has taken delivery of the city’s 5000th metro car.

The rapid expansion of China’s high-speed rail network has gone hand-in-hand with the development of the Chinese Train Control System (CTCS). Dr Mo Zhisong, director of the signalling division at China Railway Corporation, who was educated at Beijing Jiaotong University’s School of Electronic and Information Engineering, reveals that development is underway of a new train control system based on CTCS but using AI.

BANGLADESH Railway (BR) started work on the Padma Rail Link project on July 3 after signing a $US 2.6bn loan with Chinese Exim Bank for the project on April 27.