Asia rail industry news
Latest railway industry news from across Asia, including operations, infrastructure, rolling stock and policy.
Isolated Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen extends Japan’s high speed network to Nagasaki
JAPAN: JR Kyushu has opened the 66 route-km Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen between Takeo Onsen and Nagasaki.
Istanbul – London freight service planned by January
EUROPE: Planning is well advanced for the launch of a rail service carrying road semi-trailers between the Asian side of Istanbul and London via the Channel Tunnel, Albert Bastius, COO of TX Logistik, told Rail Business UK at the InnoTrans exhibition.
Kazakh railway signs battery and LNG loco MoU
KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ and Wabtec have signed a memorandum of understanding for the production of 150 FLXdrive battery-electric shunting locomotives and the conversion of main line diesel locos to NextFuel liquid natural gas-power.
Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China to trial multimodal freight corridor
ASIA: Representatives of the railways of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China have agreed to trial a rail and road ‘economic corridor’ linking the four countries.
Mongolian heavy haul coal railway opens
MONGOLIA: President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh has officially opened the 234 km heavy haul railway connecting the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposits in the Gobi desert to an inland port at Gashuun Sukhait close to the Chinese border.
Chevron considers exporting Kazakh oil by rail
KAZAKHSTAN: US oil giant Chevron is considering restarting rail export of crude from its Tengiz oil field.
Changsha – Yiyang high speed line opened
Construction of Ankara – Izmir high speed line restarts
Test running starts on Gaziantep suburban corridor
Rubber-tyred metro trains with automatically-darkening windows ordered
Kaohsiung Yellow Line rolling stock and railway systems contract awarded
Jinhua’s Jinyi Line suburban railway opens
First phase of Fuzhou metro Line 6 opens
Utsunomiya light rail expansion planned as opening rescheduled
Fire fighting and rescue wagon rolled out
Vietnam revives high speed line vision
Six policy reforms to strengthen railways in Central Asia
Suspended maglev on test in Jiangxi
Phoenix-inspired maglev line opens to serve ancient town
JORSA hosts Japanese pavilion at InnoTrans
Dual-voltage suburban line opened in Chongqing
‘Living lab’ to help develop transport technology
InterRail opens Turkish subsidiary as alternative Eurasian freight routes gain momentum
Trans-Afghanistan railway survey finds no technical problems with route