CHINA’s high-speed network now exceeds 20,000km after the opening of a line linking Zhengzhou in the central Henan province with Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu on September 10.

HONG Kong’s MTR Corporation held a ceremony on September 8 to mark the breakthrough of the 11km Tai Wai - Hung Hom tunnel section of the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) metro project.

CHINA’s top economic planning authority the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed on September 6 that it has given the go-ahead for the first phase of the metro network in Baotou, the largest city in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

CRRC Corporation more than doubled orders from outside China in the first half of this year, according to a financial release filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 23.

CHINA’s first driverless subway line, the Yanfang line in Beijing will begin operations at the end of 2017 according to a report on August 29.

CHINA’s first metro train fitted with permanent magnet direct-drive traction motors has entered trial passenger service on Line 1 of the Changsha Metro, which opened on June 28, following two years of research and development by Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric.

CHINA Railways Corporation inaugurated its new standard high-speed EMU, which has been under development since 2012, on the Dalian – Shenyang line on August 15.

RUSSIAN Railways subsidiary, RZD Logistics, launched a test of a refrigerated container train carrying fruit and vegetables between Russia and China on August 8 in what hopes will become a regular service.

CHINA Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) has signed a Taka 276.5bn ($US 3.5bn) contract on August 8 with the Bangladeshi government to build a new east-west railway via the 6.2km road-rail Padma Bridge.

TRIAL operation began on the initial phase of Tianjin’s metro Line 6 on August 6, five years after the start of construction on the north-south line.