Keith Fender

GERMAN Rail (DB) has confirmed to IRJ that it plans to place an order for additional class 412 ICE 4 high-speed trains using options available in the original 2011 contract, although the exact number of trains has yet to be finalised.

A detailed planning contract for the proposed 25km Stadt-Umland-Bahn Nuremberg tram line, the longest light rail route currently planned anywhere in Germany, was agreed in late June.

SIEMENS and Berlin U-Bahn operator BVG have announced they have agreed to resolve a legal dispute over the procurement of new U-Bahn EMUs.

CZECH private operator RegioJet has won its first tender to operate regional services in the Czech Republic. The company already operates tendered regional services in Slovakia and open-access long distance services from Prague to Vienna, Bratislava and Kosice.

COLOGNE-based transport authority Rhineland Local Transport (NVR) has begun the tender process to fully reopen the 30km Düren - Euskirchen via Zülpich line, located between Aachen and Bonn, from December 2020.

THE city council in the Bavarian city of Regensburg has voted overwhelmingly to back plans for the construction of a light rail network.

TUNNELLING for the western tube of the 8.8km twin-bore Bossler tunnel at the western end of the new Stuttgart - Wendlingen - Ulm high-speed line concluded on June 8, following completion of the eastern tube in November 2016.

FLIXTRAIN will expand the service frequency on the Cologne to Hamburg route to two round trips a day from July 19, offering 20 trains per week on the route. Flixtrain took over marketing of the former HKX branded trains formerly operated by RDC Deutschland on the route on March 23.