HSL Zone

The federal government has highlighted the potentially "enormous" cost of building a high-speed rail link through Sydney and admits the concept could face opposition from environmentalists.

The government last year commissioned a $20 million feasibility study to investigate the idea of linking Brisbane and Melbourne via the high speed line, potentially ensuring faster commutes for those living in the regions.

Infrastructure investment company HSBC Infrastructure Company (HICL) has upped its investment in the Dutch high speed rail public/private partnership (PPP) project.

HICL has increased its equity and loan note interests in the project to 42.99% from 37.50% at a cost of €11.6m.

The price paid compares favourably with the valuation of the project in the company's portfolio as at 30 September 2010, the company said.

The acquisition brings the number of incremental acquisitions undertaken by the company since launch.

China’s national news is reporting that the country has completed its first railway tunnel that runs underwater. The Shiziyang Tunnel was completed on Saturday12 March in the Guangdong Province, south China.

The Shiziyang Tunnel crosses under the Pearl River estuary and is almost 11km long. It is thought that trains will be able to travel at up to 350km per hour.

The tunnel is a key part of a 140km high-speed rail link that connects Guangzhou with Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The rail lines will be opened in sections between 2011 and 2016.

The Indian Railways is studying a proposal to construct a high-speed rail link which will ultimately link the country with China in the future. China has too shown a keen interest to have rail link with India through Manipur areas. At present, China is carrying out a major railway project on its borders to establish a link with India. The proposed rail link between these two giants of Asia is likely to improve further business and trades between them.

Work at the Treviglio-Brescia high-speed rail link is underway between Milan and Venice. The construction tender was assigned for a total of 700m euro. to Cepav Due. The agreement was signed, by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana CEO Michele Mario Elia, and Saipem CEO Pietro Franco Tali. The signing was attended by transport minister Altero Matteoli and FS CEO Mauro Moretti.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government is currently undertaking feasibility studies on a high-speed rail connecting Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Public Land Transport Commission (SPAD) chief development officer Azmi Abdul Aziz said that the feasibility studies would take about eight weeks to complete. “We have done some comparisons with other similar high-speed rail links around the world such as the Paris-Brussels link and it is feasible to connect Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, spanning around 400km,” he said.

Hungary hopes to see China's high-speed trains running on its rail network, Hungarian National Development Minister Tamas Fellegi said on Saturday, while denying recent reports that Beijing would buy Budapest's debt.

"Last time we were in China, in Beijing, we were shown several projects that would include high-speed trains in Hungary, for instance between the airport and downtown Budapest," Fellegi told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

After three years of research into the development, at a cost of 86 million euros, work on the line will finally start from next year, with the first phases set to map out a viable route by which the two cities can be better connected. It’s hoped that the project will be completed by 2023.

According to reports, testing has commenced for the Beijing-Shanghai corridor's first section. This 645 km long stretch connects Zaozhuangxi in Shandong province to Hongqiao in Shanghai. The test period is expected to end in May. The section should be open for commercial operation one month later, in june of 2011.

Denis Muratov, managing Director of Skorostny Magistrali, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, has been speaking about preparing the project to build a Moscow – St. Petersburg high-speed rail link.

“We plan to begin preparing the tender to construct this high-speed line in March 2011 and announce the tender itself in December 2011,” said Denis Muratov.