Quintus Vosman

LUXEMBOURG’s minister of development and infrastructure, Mr Franҫois Bausch, announced on October 13 plans to extend the country’s first tram line, the first section of which will open on December 10.

DUTCH train and bus operator Syntus adopted the branding of its parent company on October 9, when it began operating under its new title Keolis Nederland.

THE Dutch national rail safety authority ILT granted certification on September 21 for the operation of the multi-system variant of Siemens’ Vectron electric locomotive for operation on freight services in the Netherlands.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has unveiled a mock-up of its Intercity New Generation (ICNG) EMU, 79 of which were ordered from Alstom in 2016.

DUTCH infrastructure manager Prorail has awarded machine-to-machine technology company Dual Inventive a contract to supply 1500 wireless sensors to remotely monitor the health of points and crossings at key locations across the network.

FOLLOWING a competitive tender, the German state of Baden-Württemberg and the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen have awarded DB Regio a contract to operate cross-border regional services between Singen and Schaffhausen.

THE minister of transport for the German state of Lower Saxony, Mr Olaf Lies, marked the start of construction of stations on the Neuenhaus- Bad Bentheim line on September 5 by handing over the contract for future regional passenger operations to Mr Joachin Berend, managing director of Bentheimer Eisenbahn (BE).

THE transport minister of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Mr Winfried Hermann, the president of the board of DB Regio, Mr Jörg Sandvoss, and the managing director of Bavarian Railways (BEG), Mr Thomas Precht, signed an agreement on August 24 for DB Regio to operate the Hohenlohe-Frank-Untermain Network 11 concession.

DUTCH infrastructure manager Prorail has released details of the 2018 timetable, which starts on December 10 2017, where the country’s 40-plus train operators plan to operate an all-time high of over 160 million train-km. This compares with 125 million train-km in 2003.

THE Swiss Canton of Valais has accepted an offer from BLS to take over the operation of the car shuttle through the Simplon tunnel between Brig and Iselle, Italy, from Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) starting on December 10.