EUROPE: Supply industry association UNIFE has called for the EU budget to include a dedicated €3bn rail research programme as the successor to the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, saying this would help to ’keep the European rail supply industry number one in the world, amid the global race to challenge ...

UK: Testing is underway with what is thought to be the first installation of European Train Control System equipment on an operational steam locomotive, as part of a plan to secure the long-term future of heritage traction operation on the national rail network.

FRANCE: Stadler has signed a contract to supply eight customised diesel-battery hybrid multiple-units for the narrow gauge Nice – Digne line operated by Chemins de Fer de Provence.

INDIA: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has inspected the first of the 9 000 hp EF-9K electric freight locomotives being produced by Siemens Mobility and Indian Railways at Dahod in Gujarat.

UK: South Lanarkshire’s second Rail Skills Academy has been launched to equip 11 young people with the skills and experience required to thrive in the railway maintenance sector.

INDIA: The new Pamban railway bridge in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district was inaugurated when Prime Minister Narendra Modi operated the vertical lift span to facilitate the passage of a naval coastguard vessel.

SOUTH AFRICA: Stated-owned logistics business Transnet is seeking a private sector partner to help establish a rolling stock leasing company as part of the opening of the rail freight market to competition.

POLAND: A consortium led by Porr has been awarded the 1·76bn złoty contract to build the high speed rail tunnel under Łódź as part of the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny programme.

ROMANIA: Greenbrier is to close its Arad wagon factory, and concentrate production at its Caracal and Drobeta-Turnu Severin sites.

AUSTRALIA: Gemco Rail and supply partner CRRC Qiqihar Railway Rolling Stock have delivered the first of 100 iron order wagons which are to be produced in Western Australia for Rio Tinto.

UK: The Rail Safety & Standards Board has updated industry standards and the Rule Book to include requirements and guidance for locations where multi-mode trains switch between external electric power and internal sources such as diesel or battery.

ITALY: Ferrovie della Calabria has ordered three custom-made 950 mm gauge diesel-electric multiple-units from Stadler.

UK: This month Czech turnout manufacturer DT-Výhybkárna a Strojírna will complete a major contract to supply permanent way specialist Trackwork Ltd with 86 switch rails approved to British specifications.

INTERNATIONAL: The operators of the Madrid and Delhi metros have agreed to co-operate to assess how far their networks could be used for urban parcel distribution.

News from the world rail freight market.

UK: Network Rail has opened what it says is its only facility able to offer training for all types of signalling as well as electrical control room operations.

MALAYSIA: National railway KTMB has signed a strategic agreement for the operation and maintenance of the future Perlis Inland Port at Padang Besar on the border with Thailand.

TURKEY: Electrification contractor RESA Yapi Elektromekanik has awarded Alstom a contract to supply rigid overhead catenary for a 7 km tunnel on a new alignment which will enable 200 km/h running on the route between Istanbul and the Bulgarian border.

EGYPT: Egyptian National Railways has awarded Progress Rail three long-term contracts to modernise 100 AA22T diesel locomotives and provide technical services and parts support for a total of 141 locos for up to 15 years.

INTERNATIONAL: Agustin Escobar, CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, his wife and three children and the pilot were killed when a New York sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on April 10.