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 ...

The building blocks to turn round performance on Germany’s national network are being put in place thanks to an unprecedented investment programme, but Deutsche Bahn and infrastructure arm DB InfraGO must deliver on their promises, warns Federal Minister for Digital & Transport Dr Volker Wissing. Murray Hughes put the questions.

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

UK: Purple Transform has been awarded Innovate UK funding to develop and trial the use of artificial intelligence to alert staff to potential safety incidents at level crossings.

The transport ministers of Britain and Germany are taking contrasting approaches to addressing the problems facing the railways in both countries. While Federal Transport Minister Dr Volker Wissing believes management reorganisation cannot solve DB’s problems, his UK counterpart Louise Haigh is taking the opposite view as rail reforms move ahead. ...

SWITZERLAND: The 57 km Gotthard Base Tunnel has fully reopened, 389 days after a derailed freight train caused extensive damage to the slab track in the western bore of the world’s longest railway tunnel.

SPAIN: High speed rail infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has awarded Vías y Construcciones a €40m civil works contract for the construction of a chord at Olmedo to enable through running between the Galicia and Asturias/Burgos high speed lines.

GERMANY: Rhein-Ruhr transport association VRR is to implement its largest-ever fares reform in March 2025, aiming to clear the ‘tariff jungle’ by eliminating 500 of the current 650 ticket types and reducing the number of price levels from seven to three.

VIETNAM: The Ministry of Transport has put forward proposals for rail reforms which aim to better meet local needs when planning transport infrastructure for 2030, and looking further ahead to 2050. Planning has also restarted for a much-discussed north-south 350 km/h high speed line.

BULGARIA: The Ministry of Transport & Communications has signed a contract for Škoda Group to supply 20 four-car 160 km/h electric-multiple units for use on long distance services from Sofia to Burgas, Varna and Ruse.

UK: Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh has given the go-ahead for the creation of a Shadow Great British Railways, ahead of the future primary legislation which will be needed to create Great British Railways as an arm’s length body overseeing both train services and infrastructure.

UK: ScotRail is to procure trains to replace the ageing High Speed Train fleet used on routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness, the Scottish government announced on September 3.

UK: The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill received its third reading in the House of Commons on September 3, as the first major piece of legislation to pass through the Commons under the recently-elected Labour government.

EUROPE: CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co and a local partner are to build a rolling stock manufacturing plant in Hungary from which to supply vehicles for the European market.

TURKEY: State-owned rolling stock manufacturer Türasaş has developed a wagon to enable the Turkish Armed Forces to transport military vehicles including Altai main battle tanks.

RUSSIA: An agreement has been signed for the supply of 41 trainsets with a design speed of 400 km/h and operating speed of 360 km/h for use on the proposed Moskva – Tver – Veliky Novgorod – St Petersburg high speed line.

UK: Invitations to negotiate have been issued to five potential manufacturers of new trains which will enable TransPennine Express to move away from largely diesel operation as its core Leeds – Manchester route is electrified.