Keith Fender

THE government of Luxembourg has given Luxembourg Railways (CFL) the go-ahead to order 11 additional Kiss double-deck EMUs from Stadler.

ARGENTINA's Train of the Clouds was revived on April 4, when the Salta provincial government took over operation of the tourist service.

SIEMENS presented the new class 700 EMU for cross-London Thameslink suburban services to the press at its Krefeld plant in Germany on April 2, confirming that the first sets will be delivered to the new depot at Three Bridges in August in readiness for the start of mainline testing.

BELGIAN Railways (SNCB) freight business SNCB Logistics will be 66.6% owned by independent European private equity group Argos Soditic following an investment of €70m structured as a capital increase in the company.

AN extensive evaluation of 25 disused and dedicated freight railway lines by the German state of Lower Saxony has identified three candidates for the reintroduction of passenger services.

MITTELDEUTSCHE Regiobahn (MRB), a Transdev subsidiary, has won the contract to operate Leipzig – Geithain – Chemnitz express services from December 2015.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has unveiled plans to significantly enhance its long-distance services in Germany in a bid to attract 50 million more passengers annually by 2030.

RAILROAD Development Corporation (RDC) has lost its appeal at the Administrative Court in Cologne against the Federal Networks Agency's decision to prevent DB Networks signing draft agreements for train paths for RDC's proposed motor-rail services between Niebüll and Westerland on the island of Sylt.

VIRGIN Trains East Coast (VTEC) took over operation of long-distance services from London King's Cross to Leeds, northeast England and Scotland on March 1.

PLANS for open-access car-carrying trains serving the island of Sylt in northern Germany have suffered a setback after the Federal Networks Agency instructed infrastructure manager DB Networks not to sign draft agreements with the German subsidiary of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), United States, for train paths on the route.