MOLDOVA: An application for accession to the Convention Concerning International Carriage by Rail has been submitted by Moldova.

SWEDEN: Railcare is testing its second-generation Multi-Purpose Vehicle, which has been developed with ABB and can both operate and charge its batteries via overhead electrification.

USA: Amtrak has awarded its first Delivery Partner contract, covering the $6bn Frederick Douglass Tunnel programme which it says is its single largest capital project.

UK: Freightliner and synthetic fuel developer Zero Petroleum have announced a partnership which aims to achieve fossil-free locomotive operation by 2040 and overall net zero by 2050.

CANADA: Greater Toronto area transport agency Metrolinx has awarded Siemens Mobility a contract to provide track, signalling and right-of-way maintenance services for its Central Region.

Swedish start-up Strainlabs is one of the founding participants in the Vossloh Connect digital ecosystem. Vossloh’s Head of Digital Pierre-Henri Bougeant and Strainlabs’ CEO Csaba Madru explain the partnership and why in rail digitalisation, simplicity is key.

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

Globalisation is facing a challenge in the railway industry as countries prioritise domestic production of trains. Nick Kingsley  explores the drawbacks of this approach and the continued importance of international co-operation.

ITALY: Trenitalia has unveiled its first long-distance trainset which can operate on electric, diesel or battery power.

UK: The Department for Transport intends to directly award incumbent London North Eastern Railway a contract to continue to operate InterCity East Coast passenger services.

BELGIUM: Lineas has unveiled a FAME locomotive, powered by fatty acid methyl ester biofuel produced from non-food raw materials such as used cooking oil.

EUROPE: A dedicated Interrail Global pass has been launched to encourage sustainable travel and exploration by participants in the Erasmus+ education scheme.

EGYPT: British Steel has won a multi-million-pound contract to supply 9 500 tonnes of rail from its Scunthorpe plant in the UK for use on the 250 km/h Green Line railway. This corridor will link Mersa Matruh on the Mediterranean coast with Alexandria, the New Administrative Capital and the port ...

EUROPE: Polish company CLIP Intermodal has awarded Alstom a contract to supply 13 third-generation Traxx multi-system electric locomotives approved for use in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Poland.

UK: CrossCountry has selected Alstom as preferred bidder to refurbish its fleet of Voyager and Turbostar DMUs over a broadly two-year period as part of an investment package aimed at increasing capacity on its network by up to 25%.

UK: The Railway Industry Association has published a ‘fresh blueprint’ for ticketing reform, saying a focus on customer experience and boosting ridership could drive revenue growth without needing to increase fares.

UK: Winvic Construction Ltd has begun work on Phase 2 of the iPort Rail project, which will double the size of the rail freight terminal in Doncaster.

GERMANY: At a ceremony in Berlin Hauptbahnhof on March 19 Deutsche Bahn took delivery of the final ICE4 trainset, which was named Spree to mark the occasion and ‘baptised’ with water from the river of the same name.

SOUTH KOREA: The initial 28 km section of the Great Train Express commuter rail network in the Seoul conurbation, linking Suseo with Dongtan has opened.

EUROPE: Strategies to attract new talent to the rail sector were discussed at the Next–Gen Rail: Building The Workforce Of Tomorrow For the Rail Sector conference which was hosted by UNIFE in Brussels on March 27.