IRELAND: Iarnród Éireann has awarded AtkinsRéalis a contract to provide design services for the DART+ West and South West projects, which are part of the DART+ programme to expand the Dublin Area Rapid Transit network of electrified commuter rail services.

USA: New York MTA has unveiled the first of the Siemens Mobility SC42-DM Charger electro-diesel locomotives which will enable it to increase the use of electric traction on Metro-North Railroad commuter services.

UK: Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy struck an upbeat tone in his keynote address at the Railway Industry Association’s annual conference on November 6, promising ‘a new start for rail’ and confirming that High Speed 2 ‘will go to [London] Euston’.

FRANCE: Two new companies are to take over the operations and maintenance activities of the national railway’s freight business Fret SNCF on January 1 2025.

UK: A poll for the Railway Industry Association has found that 48% of rail business leaders surveyed believe the industry will contract in the next year.

FRANCE: The liberalisation of the rail market offers new opportunities for SNCF Voyageurs’ rolling stock maintenance and engineering subsidiary Masteris, according to its CEO Remi Peltier, who told Railway Gazette International that ’we want to be present for these opportunities’.

LITHUANIA: National passenger operator LTG Link has unveiled the future appearance of the Flirt multiple-units to be supplied by Stadler, saying they are intended to be bright, bold and recognisable.

Michal Krapinec, Chairman & Director General of Czech national operator České Dráhy, unveils his strategy for developing domestic and international passenger services to Toma Bačić.

FINLAND: Plans are firming up for the creation of a rolling stock owning company which is intended to facilitate competition by making it easier for companies to enter the Finnish rail operating market.

LITHUANIA: ‘Rail Baltica is fundamental for faster military mobility and for the overall security of the region’, CEO of national railway LTG Egidijus Lazauskas said when the NATO Force Integration Unit visited a construction site to discuss how the civilian project will also significantly enhance the alliance’s ability to deploy ...

One of the key messages of InnoTrans 2024 was that railways need to focus on delivery to justify the scale of investment and maintain the political support the industry is looking for.

ESTONIA: The purchase and sale agreement for the privatisation of national rail freight operator Operail was signed by the RailProject OÜ subsidiary of winning bidder Tiigi Keskus on October 31.

News from the world rail freight market.

LUXEMBOURG: National railway CFL and Hitachi Rail have signed a framework agreement for the design and installation of ETCS Level 1 Full Supervision and simplified trackside signalling at Bettembourg and Dudelange stations.

BOOK REVIEW: With an introduction by Prof Roderick Smith of Imperial College, London, If There Were No Shinkansen is the work of former East Japan Railway Chairman Shuichiro Yamanouchi, who died in 2008. Subtitled High-speed rail experience from its birth to today in Japan, the book is a remarkable personal ...

EUROPE: Direct trains between Amsterdam Centraal and London will be reinstated from February 10 2025, with the opening of a higher capacity departure terminal for passengers on Eurostar’s cross-Channel service.

USA: The first of NJ Transit’s Multilevel III double-deck electric multiple-unit cars was unveiled by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy at the operator’s Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny on October 30.

ROMANIA: Cluj-Napoca city council approved the results of a feasibility study into a 48·8 km suburban rail scheme linking Bonțida with Gârbău via the city’s main station.

NORTH MACEDONIA: The government has cancelled the previous administration’s opening up of rail infrastructure access to private and foreign freight operators.

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