CRRC subsidiary Nanjing Puzhen SR Rail Transport has secured three contracts for the supply of metro and light rail rolling stock in China worth a combined Yuan 2.1bn ($US 338.2m).

Bombardier Sifang Transportation is readying three new high-speed trains for the Chinese market. David Briginshaw looks at the top-of-the-range 350km/h train now under delivery, a 250km/h EMU which is being tested, and a prototype sleeping-car train.

TRIAL operation began on China's most northerly high-speed line on July 13, when a CRH5 EMU was used for a maiden test run on the 281km Harbin - Qiqihar line in Heilongjiang province.

JOURNEY times between the capitals of China's Anhui and Fujian provinces were cut in half on June 28 with the launch of commercial services on the 813km Hefei - Fuzhou high-speed line.

SHANGHAI Shentong Metro has awarded a Yuan 808m ($US 130m) turnkey contract to the CSR Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems joint venture for a new automated peoplemover. Bombardier's share of the contract is Yuan 89m.

THE Kenyan government has decided to allocate an additional $US 1.4bn from its 2015-16 budget for the project, currently underway, to build a 609km standard-gauge line from the port of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi. 

TWO contracts valued at $US 9bn have been awarded by the Tanzanian government to Chinese civil engineering companies to construct two new standard-gauge railways, one linking the country to Burundi and Rwanda, and the other connecting mines to a port.

Ethiopia is engaging in a highly ambitious railway construction programme as the government attempts to lay the foundations for economic growth. Chinese finance is supporting the majority of the schemes but as Michele Molinari and Noah Gunzinger of Swiss consultancy firm Molinari Rail, reveal, the Weldiya - Awash project is taking a different approach.

THE merger of China's two rolling stock manufacturers, CNR and CSR, was finalised on June 1 to form CRRC Corporation Limited, the world's largest train builder.

CHINA's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed on May 18 that it has approved the next phase of the metro network in Chengdu, which encompasses the construction of 79.1km of new lines by 2020.