CZECH REPUBLIC: Leo Express has awarded original manufacturer Stadler a contract to convert its five 3 kV DC Flirt electric multiple-units to also use 25 kV 50 Hz electrification.

SAUDI ARABIA: The first Saudi Arabia Railways train to be fitted with CAF’s latest Auriga ETCS equipment has entered passenger service on Saudi Arabia Railways’ Riyadh to Dammam network, following a two-year programme of design, testing, certification and training.

FRANCE: Infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau has awarded Hayange-based Saarstahl Rail a €1bn contract to supply rail rolled from steel which sister company Saarstahl Ascoval will produce using an electric arc furnace in Saint-Saulve.

UK: Hull Trains’ proposed London King’s Cross – Worksop – Sheffield open access service would ‘give people more choice’, offer more flexibility in train fares and make the area better known, according to Labour Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw Jo White.

Having dismantled a suburban railway and aborted a monorail scheme, the Brazilian city of Salvador is now developing a tram network using second-hand trams and track assets from Cuiabá. Ana Cláudia Nascimento, CEO of state transport operator CTB, explains the plans to Benjámin Zelki.

EUROPE: Eurostar is to cease offering the SmartCheck biometric check-in service at London St Pancras International station in February, but says it has boosted capacity in preparation for the introduction of the EU Entry-Exit System.

GERMANY: Max Bögl has taken delivery of a 1·8 MW Vossloh Rolling Stock DE18 diesel-electric locomotive for shunting and short distance freight operations at its Sengenthal site in Bayern.

News from the world rail freight market.

UK: The Department for Transport has announced that the future Great British Railways will sell tickets online, while retaining a ‘thriving’ private sector market where third party ticket retailers can compete in an ‘open and fair’ manner.

SPAIN: The Ministry of Transport & Sustainable Mobility is to award Ineco contracts to supervise maintenance on more than 3 000 km of high speed line.

FINLAND: Exel Composites says it is the first company to obtain the latest EN16843 certification for a glass fibre composite rail joint.

CHILE: Rail logistics company Transap has ordered four Wabtec C30ACi diesel locomotives as part of its fleet renewal plans.

UK: Positive Traction has been awarded an order to rebuild a Class 08 diesel shunter used by Heidelberg Materials at Whatley Quarry into an 08e zero-emission battery locomotive.

HUNGARY: Minister of Construction & Transport János Lázár announced a series of structural changes and improvements to railway services in Hungary at a press conference held in Budapest on January 8.

NEW ZEALAND: Depot safety control specialist FirstClass Safety & Control has deployed depot protection systems at two KiwiRail sites in collaboration with Freightquip.

This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.

UK: More people with colour blindness will be able to work in safety critical railway roles such as train driving as a result of research undertaken by the Rail Safety & Standards Board at the request of drivers’ union ASLEF.

EUROPE: The Association of European Rail Rolling stock Lessors has called for the more co-ordinated deployment of ERTMS, changes to subsidy policies and measures to ensure life-time support of vehicles. It says these measures are needed to avoid disrupting procurement and to avoid rail pricing itself out of the freight ...

GERMANY: The first three Stuttgart S-Bahn electric multiple-units to be refurbished have been unveiled by operator DB Regio and transport authority VRS ahead of their return to passenger service in February.

MOROCCO: ONCF is working on the development of RER-branded suburban rail networks around Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech for launch by the end of the decade.