The Israeli government last week approved the 350-kilometre (218-mi) high speed railway between Tel Aviv and the southern port city of Eilat, which is set to cut travel time to two hours. The line is scheduled to open five years from the start of construction, UIC reports.

A joint venture of Invensys Rail and Turkish civil engineering company Fermak has been awarded a EUR 76 million project from Turkish State Railways (TCDD) to install European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) signalling and communications on the 310km Bandirma-Menemen railway.

Ansaldo STS has signed agreements with the Italo-Turkish joint venture, Salini-GCF-Kolin, to supply rail signalling, automation and telecommunications systems for the Gebze-Kosekoy stretch of high-speed track between Ankara and Istanbul in Turkey.

Al Shoula consortium members last week signed in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) the EUR 6.7-billion contract to construct, operate and maintain during twelve years the Haramain High Speed Railway, connecting Mecca and Medina.

Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) today awarded the EUR 6.7 billion phase 2 contract of Medina-Jeddah-Mecca High Speed Link (also known as Haramain HS Rail Project) to Al–Shoula Consortium which comprises a number of Saudi and Spanish Companies, including Renfe, Adif and Talgo.

Turkey last week inaugurated the new high speed line between Ankara and Konya, which is equipped with Invensys Rail ERTMS Level 1 and associated signalling systems. The high speed line includes 212 Km of new construction, and with speeds up to 250 km/h the journey between Ankara and Konya now takes just 90 minutes.

The Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, with a total investment of RMB 220.9 billion, began operations on June 30th. The 1,318-kilometer trip is the world's longest and connects the country's Pan-Bohai and Yangtze River Delta zones. Trains will travel between 250 and 300 kph (155 mph and 186 mph) with the fastest time of four hours and 48 minutes. Top speed will thus not reach 380 kph (236 mph) as Chinese authorities previously trumpeted.

Chinese authorities began yesterday to sell real-name train tickets for high-speed services (200 kph or more), People's Daily reports. Passengers must now show proper identification when buying tickets for train services classified with the letters C, D and G. According to officials, this move is an effort to improve railway security and eliminate ticket scalping. Beijing and Shanghai had already begun selling real-name tickets for high-speed trains.

Sheng Guangzu, Minister of Railways, said last weel that the total debts of Chinese railway enterprises are around RMB 1.8 trillion and are controllable. Sheng said that the current asset-liability ratio of railway enterprises was around 56%, which is low among industrial enterprises. When being asked whether the future development road of high-speed rail would change, Sheng, who just took office, said that Chinese high-speed rail system will continue to grow within the scope of the medium and long-term national plans for railway network adjustment.