USA: Union Pacific has entered into an agreement for Jaguar Transport Holdings’ newly-formed Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad to provide short line services on around 6 km of track in the Central Industrial District of Kansas City, Missouri.

TAIWAN: Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp and the Hitachi Toshiba Supreme Consortium have signed an agreement for the detailed interior design of the 12 Series N700S high speed trainsets, which were ordered in May 2023 at a cost of NT$28bn.

UK: A report has found that additional capacity could be provided at Temple Mills depot in London to support plans for new cross-Channel passenger services. However incumbent operator Eurostar says the options would not provide sufficient capacity to support even one operator’s plans without significant investment.

SLOVAKIA: National passenger operator ZSSK has called two tenders for the supply of battery-electric and inter-city trainsets.

News from the world rail freight market.

UK: The Rail Safety & Standards Board has developed a Runaway Risk Tool to identify locations where the track conditions or gradient could cause rail vehicles to move away from worksites, and which sections of track would be vulnerable if they did.

ITALY: The Autonomous Province of South Tirol has approved a framework agreement with national infrastructure manager RFI covering the use of the area’s rail infrastructure until 2035.

Hitachi Energy has supplied its latest transformers to Indian Railways as part of the national electrification programme, leading to lower carbon emissions and railway operating costs.

BRAZIL: Mining company Vale has ordered 50 Wabtec Evolution Series diesel locomotives to modernise operations and lower carbon emissions on its Vitória a Minas and Carajás railways.

MOROCCO: National railway ONCF has formally signed a €781m contract for Alstom to supply 18 Avelia Horizon high speed trainsets.

Traction battery technology is increasingly able to support the transition away from diesel-only traction in the rail sector, but the stresses facing batteries in rail must be clearly recognised, says Senthilnathan Mariappan of ABB.

AUSTRIA: The Star Alliance of 25 airlines has integrated Austrian Federal Railways services between Wien airport and Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck into its booking processes.

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

SLOVAKIA: International co-operation and more funding for infrastructure were key themes emerging from the 19th FKD railway conference held in Bratislava on March 18-19. Toma Bačić reports.

INDIA: Express logistics company Blue Dart has started testing the use of the Delhi metro network to transport express parcels as an alternative to the heavily congested roads of the National Capital Region.

SKPL is an unusual example of a private company active across the freight, passenger and rolling stock leasing sectors in Poland. Commercial Director Albert Mikołajczyk sets out the company’s response to a changing local rail market and its plans for the future to Benjámin Zelki.

BULGARIA: Minister of Transport & Communications Grozdan Karadzhov has ordered urgent action to enhance railway safety within six months, following the receipt of a report commissioned from an industry working group.

USA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and operator Keolis Commuter Services have launched passenger services on Phase 1 of the South Coast Rail project, providing Fall River and New Bedford with trains to Boston for the first time in more than 65 years.

Next month is due to see the start of commercial passenger services with an autonomous train in the Czech Republic, as AŽD Praha launches demonstration GoA3 operations on its Dolní Bousov – Kopidlno test line.

UK: The Department for Transport has formally selected Arriva Group’s Chiltern Railways to operate Oxford – Milton Keynes passenger services on the first stage of the East West Rail line, which is to launch later this year.