CHINA Railways Corporation (CRC) has reported a loss of Yuan 5.36bn ($US 870m) after tax for the first half of this year, compared with a profit of Yuan 2.57bn in the first half of 2013.

CONSTRUCTION is expected to begin in October on a 339km direct line linking Chongqing with Changsha, the capital of China's Hunan province, after China's Ministry of Environmental Protection approved plans for the Yuan 37.6bn ($US 6.1bn) project.

THE FIRST of 27 six-car trains for Chengdu metro Line 4 was presented to Mr Yu Ningyue, chairman of Chengdu Metro Corporation at the CNR Changchun plant on August 21.

CHINA Railway Group launched tenders through its procurement subsidiary China Rail Investment Corporation on August 22 for two contracts to supply a total of 232 high-speed trains.

THE SECOND phase of the railway network in Tibet was inaugurated on August 15 with the opening of the 253km line linking the Tibetan capital Lhasa to the region's second city Xigaze.

CHINA Northern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CNR) has been awarded a contract to supply a fleet of 60 driverless trains for the first metro line in Beijing to be equipped for Unattended Train Operation (UTO).

TRIAL passenger operation began on August 1 on a new suburban metro line in Nanjing, which serves northern districts of the Chinese city.

THE first of 18 driverless metro trains being built in China by Shanghai Alstom Transport (Satco) for the North East Line has arrived in Singapore.

THE first metro line Wuxi, a city of 6.3 million inhabitants in China's eastern Jiangsu province, was inaugurated on July 1 by the city's mayor Mr Wang Quan.

THE government of Uganda is planning to invite six Chinese companies to compete for contracts worth up to $US 8.3bn to expand the country's railway network.