SWEDEN: Funding has been agreed for construction of a 60 km high speed line between Göteborg and Borås, the second largest town in the Västra Götaland region.

In its biennial report published on July 1, Germany’s Monopolies Commission calls for measures governing DB InfraGO to be geared more directly to the needs of rail customers.

POLAND: Koleje Małopolskie and Newag have signed a 1·3bn złoty framework contract for the purchase of six 3 kV DC electric multiple-units with an option for 19 more, Małopolskie voivodship announced on September 9.

EUROPE: Passengers in France’s Grand Est région travelling to and from destinations in Germany will soon be riding on a fleet of 30 electro-diesel Régiolis TFA trainsets built specifically for cross-border services.

MEXICO: President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has unveiled her ‘100 Steps for Transformation’ programme which contains the revitalisation of passenger rail services on three major corridors, totalling 3 000 km in length.

USA: Siemens Mobility has selected a site at Horseheads in upstate New York to produce American Pioneer 220 high speed trainsets for the Brightline West project to link Las Vegas with southern California.

With semi-trailers accounting for a majority of Europe’s road freight transport, policymakers must provide the right incentives to ensure that they can be used for intermodal applications if long-standing modal shift targets are to be achieved.

UK: Construction of High Speed 2’s Colne Valley Viaduct, being constructed close to the village of Denham in Buckinghamshire, has reached a key milestone, with the installation of the final bridge segment on September 5.

As Deutsche Bahn’s more flexible competitors eat into the rail freight market, drastic action is required to turn DB Cargo into a viable concern. Murray Hughes reports.

UK: Freightliner has launched its ECO90 booking service which enables customers of any size to reduce their carbon emissions by sending as little as one container on trains powered by alternative fuels.

MEXICO: The El Insurgente suburban rail service has reached the western edge of Mexico City.

USA: The NaviLens smart phone navigation app for visually impaired people is being tested on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Boston commuter rail network.

UK: TransPennine Express Managing Director Chris Jackson says good progress is being with tackling the operator’s backlog of driver training, which was a key issue behind the service reductions brought in with the December 2023 timetable. However, it will not be completed until next year.

‘Too busy, too old and too kaputt’ was how Baden-Württemburg Transport Minister Winfried Hermann described the heavily used main line between Frankfurt and Mannheim. The 70 km route was closed on July 15 for a massive all-in-one rebuild, with reopening set for December 14.

News from the world rail freight market.

EUROPE: Italian operator SSIF has placed a firm order for an additional four-car Stadler electric multiple-unit for use on the 1 000 mm gauge Domodossola – Locarno line which it operates in partnership with its Swiss counterpart FART. This takes SSIF’s total order to four units.

MOLDOVA: Moldova has become the 52nd Member of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail. Based in Switzerland, OTIF is the intergovernmental organisation which develops a unified legal framework for railways which is applied by countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

JORDAN: Government and railway officials from the United Arab Emirates have signed four agreements to support Jordan with a US$2·3bn project to build a 360 km railway linking potassium and phosphate production facilities to the port of Aqaba.

STADLER: ‘Despite the ongoing challenging environment, Stadler achieved a solid performance in the first half of the year, aided by a diversified product portfolio and market success with alternative drive systems’, Group CEO Markus Bernsteiner said on August 28.

UK: TransPennine Express is seeking to achieve higher levels of performance from its fleet, its Fleet, Safety & Service Delivery Director Paul Staples explained when Rail Business UK recently visited Arwick depot. The operator says it is also ‘anticipating great things’ from the trial conversion of a Hitachi trainset to ...