Viaducts, depot sites and tunnels are taking shape at the Birmingham end of the 225 km High Speed 2 route. But doubts over completion of what was Phase I of the curtailed scheme continue to swirl. Nick Kingsley reports from Washwood Heath.

SLOVENIA: Celebrations on May 29 marked the breakthrough of what will be the longest railway tunnel in Slovenia.

INTERNATIONAL: Hitachi Rail has closed the deal to purchase Thales’ Ground Transportation Systems business.

SWITZERLAND: Low-floor gauge-changing panoramic coaches have been added to enhance the accessibility of GoldenPass Express services between Montreux, Zweisimmen and Interlaken Ost

LITHUANIA: National train operator LTG Group has awarded SRPA Impulse a contract to replace its Russian KLUB-U cab signalling equipment.

SINGAPORE: Metro and bus operator SBS Transit and Siemens Mobility have signed contracts for equipment maintenance and a memorandum of understanding for the use of software.

This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.

UK: A vote in parliament on the evening of May 21 brought a formal end to work on the Crewe to Manchester leg of HS2. In its place work will progress on a new line between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly as part of the £17bn Northern Powerhouse Rail route ...

SWEDEN: Finnish national operator VR Group completed its acquisition of MTR Corp’s Stockholm – Göteborg open access passenger operator MTR Express on May 30.

BRAZIL: Governor of São Paulo Tarcísio de Freitas presided over a ceremony on May 29 in Campinas to authorise signature of the contract for the Trem Intercidades Eixo Norte (North Axis Intercity Train) project linking São Paulo with Campinas.

SOUTH KOREA: Construction company DL E&C has put forward an initial proposal for the planned CTX express commuter rail network centred on Daejeon in Chungcheong province.

AUSTRALIA: The Office of National Rail Industry Coordination has published a National Rolling Stock Procurement Pipeline webpage, which aims to provide an overview of current projects to enable purchasing decisions to be timed to avoid ‘boom and bust’ cycles.

VIETNAM: An agreement to launch a steam-hauled Revolution Express tourist train themed on Vietnamese history has been signed by Indochina Rail Tourist Service and Wafaifo Optimisers. The launch is planned for late 2024 or early 2025.

CHINA: More than 1 000 pupils from 35 secondary schools took part in Hong Kong transport operator MTR Corp’s Train for Life’s Journeys 2.0 social innovation challenge programme, with winning teams offered a free study tour of its businesses in Australia and Beijing to learn about innovative technologies and experience ...

UK: The reinstated Levenmouth railway was official inaugurated by Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney on May 29, ahead of the start of passenger services on June 2.

FRANCE: The 89 km route from Nancy to Contrexéville, much of which has been closed to passenger and freight traffic since 2016, is to reopen in December 2027. This follows the award by the Grand Est regional council on May 24 of a contract to a private-sector consortium formed of ...

SPAIN: The first 10 Talgo S106 Avril high speed trainsets entered passenger service with national operator RENFE on May 21.

INTERNATIONAL: A strategic co-operation agreement was signed by Russian Railways Chairman Oleg Belozerov and his China Railway counterpart Liu Zhenfang when Russia’s President Putin visited China during May.

BRAZIL: Geosistemas Engenharia e Defesa has been declared the winner of a tender to develop engineering design and construction proposals for the 544 km Salgueiro – Suape section of the Transnordestina project in Pernambuco state.

UK: Transport for Wales Rail’s Chief Operating Officer Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde  is optimistic about progress being made in transforming passenger services across the country, despite the financial and operational headwinds facing the Welsh transport sector.