– Officials with BNSF Railway announce that the railway will become the first United States railroad to open an office in China when its office in Shanghai opens later in April. Both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, which both maintain track and operate in the US, already maintain offices in China, but this will be the first office for a US-headquartered railway. The office is hoped to help BNSF with logistics planning for containerized shipments between the US and Asia. April 10–14 – Conference of African Railway Ministers discusses integration and gauge standardisation. April 11 – Hong Kong's Executive Council formally approves the merger of Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) and Mass Transit Railway (MTR). Officials close to the negotiations estimate a passenger fare reduction for as many as 2.8 million riders on the first day that the merger is effective. The proposal includes a formula for future fare adjustments. The resulting company will use the MTR name and identity; it will be responsible for the daily operation of both KCR and MTR systems. Although up to 700 layoffs are predicted due to job duplication, officials estimate that the combined company could be looking to hire 1,300 more employees within a few years. April 24 – Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway merges with Regionalverkehr Mittelland to form the new BLS AG, operating primarily in the Swiss Canton of Bern. April 25 – Officials with the governments of Spain and the Basque autonomous region sign an agreement outlining the proposed Basque Y railway service. The service would provide passenger and freight rail transport between the three Basque provincial capitals of Vitoria, Bilbao and Donostia and connections to the high-speed Madrid-Vitoria-Paris rail corridor. The agreement puts the section between Vitoria and Bilbao under Spanish control, and the section in Gipuzkoa province under Basque control. May events May 9 – The last train from Beijing South railway station departed at 23:09, and the station then stops services for preparing the rebuild. The new Beijing south will be the starting station of high-speed trains include Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail and Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway. The rebuild work is scheduled to be completed in 2008. May 11 – Transport and Communications Minister of Greece, Mihalis Liapis, announces a €2 billion pledge by the government to rehabilitate the country's rail network. One of the projects included in the pledge is an expansion of passenger rail service between Athens and Thessaloniki. OSE,