• The month a six-member committee of transport officials appointed by Bangladesh's caretaker government will complete a report recommending strategies for improving passenger transport and accelerating the development of the railway network. A consultants' report has advised double tracking the Dhaka - Chittagong route and constructing a more direct line to cut 5 h from the 8 h trip.
  • Ukraine's Transport Ministry is reported to be negotiating with Alstom for the purchase of 22 Pendolino trainsets in a deal valued at up to US$1·5bn.
  • Romania's Ministry of Transport has released draft plans to offer 114 local railways to private investors on five to 10- year leases.
  • Subject to final approval at an SNCF board meeting on June 27, Alstom is set to receive a €3bn order for a further series of TGV Duplex sets under an open tender for double-deck high speed trains called by SNCF in February 2006 (RG 5.06 p244). An initial 80 sets are to be supplied, with an option for 40 more. Deliveries will commence in May 2011.
  • On May 23 the California High Speed Rail Authority agreed a plan to build the proposed 1 100 km network incrementally, beginning with Phase 1 from Anaheim to Los Angeles, the San Joaquin Valley and the San Francisco area.
  • As part of a US$300m scheme to relocate a marshalling yard from the centre to a new site to the south of the city, a tworoute suburban network with 17 stations has been proposed for San Luis Potosí in Mexico, including a route from the currently disused central station to the airport. Options for the relocation project are being explored following the signature of an agreement by KCSM President José Zozaya and state Governor Marcelo de los Santos.
  • At the end of May the SBB board gave its backing to plans for a 17·7 km connection between Mendrisio in Ticino and Varese in Italy, improving links between Lugano, Como and Varese and giving easier access to Milano Malpensa airport.

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