CHINA Railway Investment Corporation (CRIC), the tendering unit of China Railways Corporation (CRC), has placed orders with subsidiaries of China Northern Rolling Stock Corporation (CNR) and China Southern Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR) for a total of 258 high-speed trains.

CHINA's latest metro which is due to open in Zhengzhou on December 26 will be the first to adopt 4G LTE for its telecommunications.

CHINA added another 287km to its high-speed network on December 1 with the launch of commercial services on the new line between Tianjin and Qinhuangdao in Hebei province.

THE TramWave catenary-free electrification system developed by Ansaldo STS is to be deployed in China for the first time after the Italian company concluded a €26m contract with CNR Equipment Engineering, which will see the technology installed on a new light rail in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

MTR Corporation unveiled the first of nine high-speed trains for the Guangzhou - Shenzhen - Hong Kong Express Rail Link (ERL) on November 6.

THE first extension of the Shanghai metro network into a neighbouring province was officially opened on October 18, when commercial services began on the 6km western section of Line 11 between Antig and Huaqiao station in Kunshan, which is situated in Jiangsu province.

TEST running started today on the first metro line to be built in the northern Chinese city of Harbin, where temperatures can plunge to -38oC.

FOLLOWING three months of test operation, passenger services began on Xi'an metro Line 1 on September 15.

SHANGHAI's metro network reached 462km on August 31 with the start of public services on the second phase of Line 11, which extends the line south from Jiangsu Road to Longhua, Sanlin, and Luoshan Road.

TRIAL operation began on the light rail network in the Chinese city of Shenyang on August 15, when the first passengers travelled on the 60km system.