Australia: Australian Rail Track Corp has awarded Union Switch & Signal a A$7m contract to supply its Phoenix train control system for the Network Control Centre South in Junee, New South Wales, which is to be completed in August.

Europe: In February Mitsui Rail Capital Europe ordered seven G1206 diesel-hydraulic freight locos from Vossloh Locomotives for delivery in 2007-08.

Hector Rail has signed a five-year agreement to provide Van Dieren Martime with electric traction for intermodal services from Norrköping to the Ruhr area. Weekly departures will increase from three to five, and Bombardier will accelerate the delivery of 10 new Traxx F140AC multi-system locos to permit the trains to run from January 2008 without changing locos at borders.

Germany: Last month Angel Trains placed a €70m order with Siemens for the 16 three-car Desiro Main Line EMUs to be leased to Deutsche Regionalbahn for the 15-year Mittelrheinbahn concession. The leasing firm has options for an additional 84 trains.

India: IR has signed a memorandum of understanding to supply Steel Authority of India Ltd with 34 diesel locos by 2010, as part of SAIL's plan to modernise and standardise its fleet of approximately 260 locos of 10 types.

Italy: On March 1 Bombardier announced a €368m contract to supply Trenitalia with a further 150 E464 passenger locos between February 2008 and March 2010. They will be assembled at Vado Ligure, with electric equipment supplied from Tr?paga in Spain and bodies from Wroclaw in Poland. A total of 538 of the 3 kV DC 3·5 MW locos were already on order or in service in Italy.

Netherlands: On February 9 Veolia placed a €30m order with Stadler for five two-car GTW 2/6 and three GTW2/8 three-car EMUs. They will be delivered in late 2008 for use on Maastricht - Kerkrade services operated under a 10-year rail and bus concession agreement with Limburg province which began last December.

Norway: In March Skanska began civil works on a 2?8 km double-track line between Skoyen and Asker west of Oslo, part of a new route between Lysaker and Sandvika. The NKr498m contract with Jernbaneverket is scheduled for completion in July 2011.

Autolink has become the first customer to order permanently-coupled pairs of aluminium-sided vans developed by Kockums Industrier to carry 12 cars or palletised goods. Ordered in March at a cost of SKr175m, 70 pairs will be used from autumn across Scandinavia by Autolink, which transports three-quarters of the road vehicles sold in Norway.

Poland: PKP Regional has completed the refurbishment of 81 coaches with financial support from the EU. Facilities for disabled passengers have been fitted to 24 vehicles.

South Africa: Motorman Robotic Systems has been awarded a R15m contract to automate wagon production at three Transwerk plants, with the installation of heavy-duty robotic gantry welding equipment to increase throughput.

Bombela consortium member Bombardier has awarded Tractionel Enterprise a R220m contract to supply and install overhead electrification on the 80 km double-track Gautrain route. Furrey+Frey will supply rigid conductors for use in the tunnels, with installation due to commence in March 2008.

Spain: Following successful trials on the Bilbao - L?on line, metre gauge operator FEVE signed an agreement with Prointec on March 5 to develop a traffic management and planning system called STAC-Rail.

Switzerland: A consortium of Windhoff, Josef Meyer Waggon, Vogt and Dr?ger Safety Schweiz has won a SFr69?5m contract to supply SBB with eight fire-fighting and tunnel rescue trains in 2009.

UK: Aiming to migrate walk-up and telesales customers to online purchasing, inter-city operator GNER has awarded Atos Origin a contract to develop an internet ticket retailing and customer relationship management system. This will be capable of supporting print-at-home and mobile phone ticketing.

USA: On February 20 FreightCar America handed over to Norfolk Southern the first of 1 200 BethGon II hybrid stainless steel-aluminium coal wagons designed in co-operation with NS to increase capacity and allow frozen coal to be heated for unloading. A second production line has been established at Roanoke, Virginia, in premises leased from NS.

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