Keith Fender

THE German state of Baden-Württemberg and Freiburg Regional Transport (ZRF) have awarded DB Regio a 12.5 year contract to operate the Breisgau East - West regional network from December 2019.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Linsinger, Austria, showed a prototype self-propelled grinding machine suitable for use in metros, and trials are planned later this year on the Berlin U-Bahn.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Stadler formally launched the new EuroDual bi-mode locomotive for British operator Direct Rail Services (DRS) at InnoTrans on September 20.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: HUNGARIAN State Railways (MÁV) presented its new FMK-008 track condition measurement train at InnoTrans, the first time it has been publicly displayed outside Hungary.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: GERMAN Rail (DB), Toshiba and Henschel have annouced details of a project to covert older diesel locomotives to hybrid power.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: GERMAN specialist locomotive builder Schalke is displaying two custom-design electric locos at Innotrans.

DB Long Distance has begun the €100m investment it announced in 2015 as part of plans to enhance its long distance services by installing high-performance Wide Local Area Networks (WLAN) on its existing fleet of 260 ICE trains.

Siemens will present at InnoTrans a 3D virtual mock-up of its new Mireo articulated lightweight EMU for commuter and regional services. As Keith Fender explains, Mireo will replace Desiro ML as Siemens’ EMU platform for the European market.

GermanRail’s (DB) long distance passenger division has drawn up a strategy to attract 50 million more passengers annually by 2030 in the face of rapidly growing competition from long distance buses and carpooling. Keith Fender reports on how DB is going about achieving this ambitious target.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has announced it is working with technical universities in Chemnitz and Dresden to develop bi-mode (diesel and electric) trains with lithium-ion battery storage. Between 2017 and 2021 DB intends to convert 13 existing Siemens class 642 Desiro Classic DMUs to hybrid bi-mode configuration.