AUSTRIA: Voters in the Salzburg area have rejected a proposal to build a 15 km partly underground light rail line, which will not now go ahead.

UK: Avanti West Coast officially launched the Class 807 electric only-version of its Hitachi-built Evero trainsets into service on November 11. This enables the operator to offer an additional weekday return service between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.

JAPAN: An interim report by Yamanashi Prefecture into a proposal to build a light rail line serving Mount Fuji has raised a series of questions about the infrastructure and rolling stock needed for a railway with gradients likely to be as steep as 8∙8%.

UK: A programme to fit engine remote condition monitoring to Northern’s Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple-unit fleet has been completed. Leasing company Porterbrook says its data showed that moving just one task to condition-based maintenance can save up to 1 500 labour-hours per year.

Ukrainian national railway Ukrzaliznytsia is looking for international help to boost rail freight traffic, and for assistance in funding major projects including 1435 mm gauge lines, as Board Member Yevhen Liashchenko* explains to Benjámin Zelki.

AUSTRIA: Austrian Federal Railways unveiled the first Stadler Kiss double-deck electric multiple-unit for Cityjet-branded local and regional services in a ceremony at St Pölten on November 6

News from the world rail freight market.

USA: Association of American Railroads subsidiary Railinc has launched a Rate & Route tool designed to help shippers more easily understand how to use rail services.

SPAIN: Alstom has unveiled the design of the Coradia Stream electric multiple-units it is to supply for use on services from central Barcelona to El Prat Airport from 2026.

GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn has stopped its planned procurement of the fifth generation of InterCity Express high speed trainsets.

KAZAKHSTAN: Alstom and national railway KTZ has signed an agreement for the production of KZ6A electric freight locomotives at the EKZ factory in Astana during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s official visit to France on November 5.

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

UK: Derby-based rolling stock hydraulic, pneumatic and HVAC equipment supplier Tidyco has been acquired by Indutrade.

SERBIA: Minister of Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure Goran Vesić resigned on November 5 in the wake of street protests which followed the fatal collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad station.

SWEDEN: The VR Sverige subsidiary of Finland’s national operator has won the next contract to operate Öresundståg services from Göteborg, Kalmar and Karlskrona to Malmö and across the Øresund  Bridge to Denmark.

EGYPT: President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated Bashteel main line station in Giza, west of Cairo, on October 12.

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.