News from the world rail freight market.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Passenger services have restarted on part of the narrow gauge network centred on Jindřichův Hradec following financial problems at operator JHMD.

INNOTRANS: Ukrainian rolling stock manufacturer Kryukovsky Railway Car Building Works is to showcase its product portfolio at the upcoming Berlin fair, with its Sggrss 80 ft articulated flat wagon at the heart of its display.

AUSTRIA: The first bore of the 27·3 km Semmering Base Tunnel was holed through on September 11.

AUSTRIA: Plasser & Theurer held a ground-breaking ceremony for a €60m track machine final assembly and commissioning facility at its Pummererstrasse site in Linz on September 11.

GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn’s management board has signed a €14·3bn agreement to sell international logistics subsidiary DB Schenker to Danish transport and logistics group DSV. The sale forms part of DB’s ‘Strong Rail’ strategy to focus on its core activities, and does not include the DB Cargo rail freight business.

UK: Plans for a Midlands-North West Rail Link have been set out by the consortium appointed by the mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

UK: Plans for a Midlands-North West Rail Link have been set out by the consortium appointed by the mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

Hübner India’s factory in Malonagathihalli near Bengaluru has delivered its 2 000th gangway system since opening in 2023. Two major orders for Vande Bharat inter-city trains have been completed, and production is under way for metro trains for Mumbai, São Paulo and Cairo. ‘With the Namma facility we are proving ...

UK: Transport for Wales has awarded Hitachi a contract to provide a bespoke Mobility-as-a-Service digital planning and booking system covering public transport in Wales.

UKRAINE: National railway Ukrzaliznytsia is negotiating to buy a further 20 Hyundai Rotem electric trainsets for Intercity+ branded services.

EUROPE: Further expansion of Austrian Federal Railways’ Nightjet overnight train network beyond the routes already announced is on hold amid ongoing operational and approvals challenges, according to ÖBB.

UK: Gemini Rail Services in Wolverton has completed a £10m three-year internal refresh of Great Western Railway’s fleet of Class 165/166 Turbo regional and suburban diesel multiple-units.

Open access operator FlixTrain is expanding operations in Germany and plans to enter other European markets if conditions are favourable. Murray Hughes asked FlixTrain Managing Director Matthias Müller about the company’s plans.

GERMANY: Railpool Lokservice has opened ‘Europe’s most modern locomotive workshop’ at Hamburg Billbrook. ‘We wanted a workshop of superlatives and we built it’, said Managing Director Christoph Engel.

GABON: Christian Magni, the Director General of Société d’exploitation du Transgabonais, and Loic Ndinga Moudouma, Minister of Transport, have signed a contract for the next phase of modernisation of the 648 km Libreville – Franceville railway.

Having acquired German intermodal business Exploris Deutschland in July last year, theTX Logistik subsidiary of Italy’s FS Group is set firmly on an expansion course. Bernd Weisweiler, Director, Marketing & Business Development, answers our questions.

BELGIUM: Privatised freight operator Lineas has called for Belgium’s national and regional governments to take five steps which it says are needed to improve the competitiveness of rail freight and help address road congestion, climate change and the energy transition.

USA: Brightline West and Siemens Mobility have unveiled a scale model and renderings of the American Pioneer 220 high speed trainsets designed to operate at up to 355 km/h on the planned high speed line linking Las Vegas with Rancho Cucamonga east of Los Angeles.

UK: Swiss-based global logistics company Medlog has acquired Maritime Transport, which provides rail and road logistics services.