INDIAN Railways (IR) has launched a tender for a contract worth around Rs 25bn (390m) to supply 315 EMU cars for inter-city services.

DEDICATED Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCL) has awarded a Rs 50.8bn ($US 794m) contract to a joint venture of GMR Infrastructure and SEW Infrastructure to build a 402km section of the 1839km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.

DELHI Metro Rail Corporation has awarded an Rs 6.45bn ($US 100m) contract to BEML, India, for 75 broad-gauge metro cars.

The Phase 3 expansion of the Delhi metro network reached another milestone on June 8, when India's urban development minister Mr Venkaiah Naidu and the chief minister of Delhi Mr Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the 1km northern extension of the Violet Line (Line 6) from Mandi House to ITO.

RIDERSHIP on Mumbai's first metro line has exceeded 100 million less than a year after its inauguration, according to the line's operators RATP Dev and Transdev.

INDIA's Pink City Jaipur inaugurated its first metro line on June 2, when the 9.6km Phase 1A of the Pink Line from Mansarova to Chandpole was officially opened by Mrs Vasundhara Raje, chief minister of the state of Rajasthan.

INDIAN Railways' Rs 240bn ($US 4.5bn) project to construct a 63km elevated rail corridor linking Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai has been abandoned following a lack of response from private parties.

CONSTRUCTION of the first phase of Hyderabad's metro network reached a milestone on May 8 with the first trial run on the 4.4km northern section of Line 1 between the depot at Miyapur and Kukatpally.

NIPPON Signal, Japan, which is installing communications-based train control (CBTC) on the new Line 8 in Delhi, has awarded a contract to Frauscher India to supply ACS2000 axle counters as a fall-back track vacancy detection system in case of a failure of the primary radio communication system.

INDIAN Railways (IR) says it is preparing to launch a tender for a fleet of fixed-formation 200km/h trains and will hold a pre-bid conference for prospective suppliers this month.