Quintus Vosman

CZECH and Slovak open-access operator Regiojet is to set to launch Prague - Bratislava services with the start of the 2017 timetable on December 11, with trains running via Pardubice and Brno.

INFORMATION for prospective bidders for a concession to operate regional train services on the Elbe-Spree network (NES) in Germany has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

TX Rail Finance 4, a Dublin-based single-purpose company owned by wagon leasing company Touax Rail, has secured a €54m loan from DVB Bank and KfW Ipex to finance the acquisition of 1335 freight wagons.

CROSS-BORDER train services between the Dutch city of Groningen and the German town of Leer partially restarted on October 30 after both Dutch and German infrastructure managers Prorail and DB Networks implemented signalling modifications.

EXACTLY a year after the COP21 climate conference in Paris, Netherlands Railways (NS) has announced that all electric trains on the Dutch network will operate exclusively using power from renewable sources with effect from January 1 2017, a year earlier than originally envisaged.

THE Dutch province of Utrecht announced on October 28 that it has made a preliminary decision to convert Utrecht’s Nieuwegein/IJsselstein Fast Tram (SUNIJ) to a conventional light rail line by 2020, modernising infrastructure and replacing the ageing tram fleet with new low-floor LRVs.

THE Dutch government has agreed to adopt a proposal by the secretary of state for infrastructure Mrs Sharon Dijksma to bring infrastructure manager Prorail under direct state control, according to reports in the Dutch press on October 16.

SLOVAKIAN national passenger operator ZSSK has confirmed it is planning to reinstate inter-city services between the capital Bratislava and the country’s second-largest city Košice from December 11.

CAF began testing the first Trenitalia class 402A locomotive for future push-pull 200km/h inter-city services at the Velim test circuit in the Czech Republic on October 1.

CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive has established a European subsidiary in Austria and has also been awarded a contract to supply trains to Czech open-access passenger operator Leo Express.