SERBIA: President Aleksandar Vučić officially launched construction of the 22·5 km Niš bypass railway with a ceremony on July 6.

EUROPE: ‘Serious concerns’ about the competitive, economic, technical and operational impact of deploying digital automatic couplers have been set out by associations representing private freight operators in central and eastern Europe. They say DAC offers numerous benefits, but ‘hasty and arbitrary solutions could further hamper the competitiveness of the rail ...

JAPAN: A giant humanoid robot capable of undertaking tasks such as painting lineside structures, cutting back vegetation, lifting heavy objects and performing simple maintenance of overhead electrification equipment has been unveiled by developer Jinki Ittai Corp and West Japan Railway.

Polish leasing company Cargounit is seeing growing demand for multi-system electric locomotives and bi-modes with a last mile capability, and CEO Łukasz Boroń tells Benjámin Zelki that customers are increasingly looking for full-service packages.

Polish leasing company Cargounit is seeing growing demand for multi-system electric locomotives and bi-modes with a last mile capability, and CEO Łukasz Boroń tells Benjámin Zelki that customers are increasingly looking for full-service packages.

AUSTRALIA: A ‘state-of-the-art’ Metro Academy has been opened in Melbourne to train rail staff ready for the opening of the cross-city suburban rail Metro Tunnel at the end of 2025.

UK: Unicard has migrated paper-based ZoneCard tickets valid on ScotRail, Glasgow Subway and bus services in the west of Scotland to its ITSO-compliant smart ticketing platform.

SWEDEN: The Norrtåg transport authority owned by four regions in the north of Sweden has selected VR Sverige as preferred bidder for the next contract to operate local passenger train services.

EUROPE: Austrian Federal Railways’ freight business ÖBB Rail Cargo Group has formally launched its TransFLEX product, which aims to offer flexible freight services tailored to a customer’s individual needs.

UK: A campaign to raise awareness of the damaging effects of sending railway staff abusive social media messages has been launched by 15 train operators, with more expected to join.

News from the world rail freight market.

KAZAKHSTAN: National railway KTZ has taken delivery of the first four of up to 200 locomotives which are to be supplied by CRRC under a US$1·3bn framework agreement signed when Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited China last October.

KENYA: A further 20 coaches which CRRC Nanjing Puzhen is supplying to increase capacity on the 480 km Standard Gauge Railway route from Mombasa to Nairobi were shipped from Shanghai at the end of June.

UK: Organisations from across the rail sector have responded to the outcome of the July 4 general election, which saw a landslide victory for the opposition Labour over the previous Conservative government.

Christian Scasso assesses the changes that are set to transform France’s nationalised rail freight operations in 2025.

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

UK: ‘Greater use of digital and AI technologies is a key aspect of our ongoing transformation plan and will enable us to deliver even better customer service and product innovation, as well as improving our overall efficiency’, DB Cargo UK Chief Executive Andrea Rossi said when the freight operator announced ...

USA: The federal Department of Transportation has awarded California’s North County Transit District a $10·2m grant to complete preliminary engineering and environmental clearance for the San Marcos to Escondido eastern segment of the Sprinter Corridor Service Improvement Project.

UK: Rail-replacement bus and taxi services have suffered from ‘a lack of a joined-up industry-wide and customer-led approach’, CMAC Group told Rail Business UK when it announced the launch of its Great British Rail Replacement business. This aims to help operators provide a more seamless passenger experience during planned and ...

The collapse of Midnight Trains has raised questions about the viability of new entrants in Europe’s open access rail market, despite the optimism surrounding ventures like Le Train and Proxima. Nick Kingsley reflects on the challenges faced by start-ups and the potential for future success in this competitive landscape.