SAUDI ARABIA: National operator Saudi Arabia Railways has invited expressions of interest in the supply of 200 km/h trainsets to expand and modernise the passenger fleet on the north–south network.

News from the world rail freight market.

Co-operation between suppliers, operators and regulators is essential if technical advances are to deliver an efficient, cost-effective and competitive railway, incoming UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe tells Chris Jackson.

AUSTRIA: Plasser & Theurer has delivered a maintenance vehicle for use on NÖVOG’s 760 mm gauge Mariazellerbahn.

INNOTRANS: Centrepiece of the Vossloh Rolling Stock presentation at InnoTrans 2024 was a modular battery-fuel cell freight locomotive for Duisport Rail.

ITALY: After a 13 year pause Arenaways is returning to the market in less than 100 days with the operation of two lines in the Piemonte region under PSO contracts.

InnoTrans: Shifting away from using dedicated test vehicles to monitor railway infrastructure in favour of attaching sensors to revenue-earning trains could increase the amount of data collected and processed ‘one-thousand fold’.

GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn’s planned sale of the Schenker land, air and maritime logistics business to Danish transport group DSV was approved by both the DB supervisory board and the federal government on October 2.

EGYPT: Operator RATP Dev is trialling sign language services on the Capital Train line which connects Cairo with the New Administrative Capital.

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

UK: The Chief Executive of the Rail Safety & Standards Board has called on the rail freight sector to co-fund research to help achieve the previous government’s ‘bold’ goal of increasing rail freight by 75% by 2050.

INNOTRANS: Hitachi Rail presented the latest version of its ETR1000 trainset for Trenitalia at the InnoTrans 2024 fair in Berlin.

FRANCE: High speed rail start-up Proxima has signed a €850m firm order for Alstom to supply 12 Avelia Horizon double-deck high-speed trains for its planned open access services between Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes, Angers and Paris.

AUSTRALIA: Fortescue Zero and rolling stock supplier Downer have announced plans to develop what they promise will be the world’s most energy-efficient battery electric locomotive.

USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has signed a $3bn grant awarded to Nevada Department of Transportation for the Brightline West project to build a high speed line to Las Vegas. This confirms a promise made by President Joe Biden last December to provide the funds under the Federal-State Partnership for ...

UK: The annual Rail Business Awards which recognise and reward excellence across every aspect of the industry will be back in Manchester in 2025.

INNOTRANS: China’s CRRC has unveiled its prototype Cinova H2 New Energy Intelligent Intercity Train, a hydrogen fuel cell powered trainset which it believes could replace diesel trains on non-electrified railways worldwide.

INNOTRANS: Plasser & Theurer has signed a partnership agreement with Siemens Mobility to support the equipping of on-track machinery with the European Train Control System.

EUROPE: Leasing company Beacon has signed a framework agreement for Siemens Mobility to supply Vectron Multi System electric locomotives, with an initial order for 25.

UK: The Global Centre of Rail Excellence launched a rail innovation competition in partnership with Innovate UK and the Department for Business & Trade at the InnoTrans trade show in Berlin.