THE Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway (L&MMR) received Class 08 No. 08795 on March 22 from the Great Western Railway, Landore depot, Swansea (87E, latterly LE), which closed in December 2018.  No. 08795 requires some attention before being launched into traffic at an event later in the year.  Read more in

CZECH REPUBLIC: Infrastructure manager SŽDC has awarded Eurovia CS, GJW Praha and EŽ Praha a KC1·47bn EU co-funded contract to upgrade the 8·4 km section of double-track line between Lysá nad Labem and Čelákovice, northeast of Praha. This will include replacing the bridge over the River Labe with a structure which will

PHILIPPINES: In what the organisation says is its ‘largest single infrastructure project financing’, the Asian Development Bank on May 23 agreed a loan worth US$2·75bn for construction of the Malolos – Clark suburban railway.This long-standing scheme has been revived by the current government in Manila under its ‘build, build, build’

THE West Somerset Railway reopened on March 30 after a three-month winter closure.  There was much celebration, but a lot of work is required and money spent to bring the railway back its former glory. Weight restrictions have been introduced, down-grading the line to a GWR Blue route (17.9T axle

Australia: Aurizon has ordered 264 coal hopper wagons from CRRC Yangtze. Half of the 1 067 mm gauge wagons are to be delivered this year and the rest next year. Belgium: De Lijn has placed a €44m order for a further 23 CAF trams for use in Antwerpen from the second

THE Mid-Norfolk Railway’s April 5-7 diesel gala started in glorious sunshine, but the number of passengers was low.  Trains ran between Dereham and Wyndham only, but a problem with the signalling installed in connection with the new storage sidings at Kimberley Park led to delays, amounting to about 40 minutes

Australia: Ausreo is to supply more than 3 800 tonnes of steel reinforcement and Holcim 15 000 m3 of concrete for the roof slabs of the future Anzac station in Melbourne. The Southern Program Alliance consortium of Acciona Geotech subsidiary Coleman Rail, Lendlease and WSP has been awarded a A$536m contract for

UK: The West Coast Trains Partnership joint venture of Stagecoach Group (50%), SNCF Holding (30%) and Virgin (20%) confirmed on May 24 that it had begun legal action against the Department for Transport. This follows DfT’s decision to disqualify it from bidding for the West Coast Partnership contract covering the

AZERBAIJAN: The first phase of a planned circular suburban railway serving Baku and the Abşeron Peninsula was inaugurated by President Ilham Aliyev on May 21. The first phase uses 13·5 km of modernised route eastwards from Baku’s main station to a new hub at Sabunçu, with three intermediate stations. Sabunçu station includes

STAGECOACH GROUP has begun High Court action against the Department for Transport following the disqualification of the bid for West Coast Partnership.Stagecoach announced this morning that a claim has been issued alleging that the Department for Transport breached its statutory duties under EU and English law when it disqualified the