China: China Railway Group has been awarded a 4·7bn yuan contract for Section 1 of the Shijiazhuang - Wuhan line, a 2·9bn yuan contract for Section 1 of the Changdu - Dujiangyan line, and a 1·8bn yuan contract for works on the Wuhan - Guangzhou project and in Shenzhen.

The Tunnel and No 6 Engineering Group subsidiaries of China Railway Group have been awarded a 1·5bn yuan contract for works on Beijing Metro Line 10.

Czech Republic: On October 29 Skanska, Subterra and Leonhard Weiss completed a KC4·6bn project to modernise a 24·4 km section of the Prerov - Ceská Trebová line which provides a link between SZDC corridors 1 and 2.

Finland: Infrastructure manager RHK has commissioned an AlisterCargo electronic interlocking supplied by Funkwerk IT at the Tampere hump yard. It controls 31 tracks, 34 turnouts and 94 retarders.

France: Alstom, Inexia and Legrand have won a €53m contract for signalling equipment on the eastern branch of LGV Rhin-Rhône (RG9.07 p543). Alstom has a separate €4·3m order for a Smartlock 400 interlocking for Dijon-Périgny, and Ansaldo STS is to supply TVM equipment, track circuiting and hot box detectors worth €23m. Cegelec will provide telecoms.

Morocco: Cegelec has announced a contract to provide electrification equipment for the 18 km two-line tramway under construction in Rabat; opening is planned for 2010.

Poland: PKP PLK has appointed Mott MacDonald and subcontractors Kolprojekt and Movares to supervise track upgrading projects with a total value of €160m.

Romania: AFER’s test track at Faurei has been upgraded at a cost of €10m. The 13·7 km circuit is now suitable for 200 km/h running, the smaller 2·2 km ring for 60 km/h.

Spain: OHL has won a €46·3m civils contract on the 20·3 km La Hiniestra - Perilla de Castro section of the Madrid - Ourense high speed line. Sando and Arcebansa are to build the 32·6 km between Perilla de Castro and Otero de Bodas for €66m, while the 30·3 km Otero de Bodas - Cernadilla section has been awarded to Acciona for €70m.

ADIF has awarded a joint venture of Isolux, Neopul and EMTE a €72·3m contract to install and maintain electrification equipment on the 138 km high speed line between Barcelona and Figueres, including rigid catenary in the cross-city tunnel from Sants to Sagrera. Instalaciones Inabensa and Siemens are to supply three substations and autotransformer equipment under a contract worth €56·6m.

FCC Construcción and Convensa have been awarded a €30·7m contract to upgrade the 7·8 km Aeropuerto de Jerez - Jerez Norte section of the Sevilla - Cádiz route (RG 8.08 p477). A new station to serve the airport is to be built by Tecsa and Detea under a separate contract worth €8·7m.

Sweden: VR Rata of Finland has been awarded a SKr150m five-year contract starting in May 2009 to maintain the section of the heavy haul iron ore line between Gällivare and the Norwegian border.

UK: Last month C Spencer Ltd began work on a £20m contract to upgrade East Midlands Trains’ Derby Etches Park depot by early 2010, including the construction of two sheds for the maintenance of Bombardier Class 222 DEMUs.

USA: BNSF officially opened the final 9 km of triple track over the Cajon Pass in southern California on November 3. This marks the completion of a $90m project to increase capacity on a key 25 km section of the Los Angeles - Chicago corridor (RG 2.08 p105).