JAPAN International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has granted a $US 2bn loan to fund the Philippines government's portion of the Manila North-South Commuter Rail project.

EAST Japan Railway Company (JR East) has announced plans to carry out trials with ac battery-electric multiple units (BEMUs) on the 26.6km Oga Line in Japan's northern Akita prefecture from Spring 2017.

With lacklustre domestic economic growth and turmoil in the commodities sector resulting in a difficult year for Australian railfreight, Mark Carter reviews the current issues and looks at the key indicators that will shape the industry in 2016 and beyond.

EAST Japan Railway Company (JR East) has confirmed its prototype E235 suburban EMU will enter commercial service on Tokyo's circular Yamanote Line on November 30.

MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries has delivered the first of three six-car 2020 series rubber-tyred metro trains to Saitama New Urban Transit for use on its Ina Line New Shuttle automated guideway transit (AGT) line in the Tokyo suburbs.

CENTRAL Japan Railway Company (JR Central) confirmed on October 22 that it will receive a further 20 N700A series Shinkansen trains between fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2019 to replace the last of its remaining 700 series sets, which will be withdrawn by the end of the decade.

INDONESIA's National Development Planning Ministry says an offer has been accepted from a Chinese consortium to build a new 140km railway between Jakarta and Bandung after Japanese bidders were forced to concede that they could not meet Indonesia's demands for no-strings finance for the $US 5bn project.

JR Hokkaido and JR East have announced that the Hokkaido Shinkansen will open on March 26, and the two railways have also revealed the initial operating pattern for services over the 149km line from Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate.

MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries (MHI) is preparing to deliver a new five-car rubber-tyred suburban train to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Transportation for use on the Nippori - Toneri line from October 10.

THE first two of 21 metro trains being supplied by a joint venture of Marubeni and Toshiba for Bangkok's new Purple Line Project departed from Yokohama on September 7.