GERMANY: Alstom has demonstrated its prototype battery-powered Talent 3 electric-multiple unit in Sachsen, with the company’s President for Germany, Austria & Switzerland Müslüm Yakisan emphasising that the company ‘has the clear goal of becoming the international leader in alternative drive technologies for rail travel’.

AUSTRIA: Open access operator Westbahn has unveiled the first of 15 third-generation six-car Kiss trainsets. Ordered from Stadler under a €300m full-service contract in October 2019, the double-deck EMUs are due to carry their first fare-paying passengers on September 9.

FRANCE: Paris operator RATP has successfully completed the relaying of all trackwork on RER Line A, with the restoration of full services at the beginning of September.

TURKEY:·The first two of seven Stadler EuroDual electro-diesel locomotives ordered by Körfez Ulaştırma have been delivered to the port of Derince in Kocaeli, two weeks after leaving the factory in Valencia.

ANALYTICS: Icomera and Glimpse Analytics are to co-operate to offer ‘robust’ video analytics software for the real-time monitoring of passenger loadings, enabling operators and passengers to make more informed decisions based on train occupancy.

SWITZERLAND: Work to double-track the 3 km Uznach – Schmerikon section of the Ziegelbrücke – Rapperswil line southeast of Zürich was launched with a groundbreaking ceremony on August 30.

Over the coming months, the US Surface Transportation Board must rule on two proposed mergers involving Class I railroads, at a time of increasing calls for more competition in the US transport sector. Chris Jackson investigates.

SPAIN: Open access operator ILSA announced on September 6 that the first of its 23 ETR1000 high speed trainsets had arrived in Spain from Italy and would commence running trials this week on the 44∙4 km Figueres – Perpignan cross-border route through the Pyrenees.

RUSSIA: Russian Railways is planning to use platooning technology to operate flights of up to five freight trains next year using radio data exchange between locomotives to create a virtual coupling. The aims to reduce headways from 12 to 6 to 8 min, increasing capacity on congested sections of the ...

Moin, Bäume und Büsche sind gepflanzt, Telegrafenmasten und Lampen stehen, die Einrichtung des Empfangsgebäudes ist fertig und Böhme/Landesgrenze ist nun an seinem Platz angekommen. Der Bau der Blende kann beginnen. Gruß Ekki ...

GERMANY: Four policies to increase rail’s share of the freight market are set out in a position paper which rail advocacy group Allianz pro Schiene has produced ahead of the federal election on September 26.

UK: FirstGroup has unveiled Lumo as the brand name for the East Coast Trains open access service between Edinburgh and London which is set launch on October 25 to provide ‘a blueprint for low-carbon, affordable long-distance travel’.

USA: Kansas City Southern has agreed to reopen discussions with Canadian Pacific, after its Board of Directors determined that CP’s latest offer could potentially lead to a superior proposal when compared to its current merger agreement with Canadian National.

NORWAY: Infrastructure manager Bane NOR has awarded NRC Norge a NKr760m contract for installation of overhead electrification equipment on the lines around Trondheim

TURKEY: The head of a major rail contractor and equipment supplier which is also the country’s first private passenger service operator has been appointed as the head of infrastructure manager TCDD.

UK: The rail sector will need to recruit 34 000 additional staff by 2025 ‘to match the changing skills agenda’, according to HS1 Ltd Chief Executive Dyan Crowther, who is also the current Chair of the National Skills Academy for Rail.

News from the world rail freight market

ASIA: Work has been completed on a 2·2 km bridge across the River Amur connecting Tongjiang in China’s Heilongjiang province with Nizhneleninskoe station in Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

CANADA: PNR RailWorks has installed two large signal gantries spanning nine tracks as part of the Union Station Rail Corridor signalling enhancement programme on the Metrolinx network in Toronto.

AUSTRALIA: Australian Rail Track Corporation has selected the BHQ joint venture of Bielby Holdings, JF Hull Holdings and QH&M Birt as design and construction partner for the Northern Civil Works Programme, covering a 162 km section of the Inland Rail freight corridor in Queensland.