Quintus Vosman

TESTING has started at the Velim test track in the Czech Republic of the first of 70 class 385 EMUs being built by Hitachi Rail Europe for the ScotRail franchise operated by Abellio.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) inaugurated a new station at Breda on September 8, which is one of the ‘New Key Projects’ to serve high-speed lines across the Netherlands.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) rolling stock maintenance subsidiary Nedtrain launched construction on a new overhaul and refurbishment workshop at its Haarlem facility on September 1.

THE first refurbished Netherlands Railways (NS) VIRM double-deck EMU was unveiled at Nedtrain’s Haarlem workshops on August 30.

AFTER several delays, Dutch infrastrucutre manager Prorail opened the new station at Utrecht Vaartsche Rijn on August 23.

THE latest phase in the reconstruction of The Hague Central station was completed on August 22 with the inauguration of new platforms for RandstadRail Line E, which links the Hague with Rotterdam and Slinge.

A major capacity enhancement project south of Amsterdam was completed in the early hours of August 10, when Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail reopened the Schiphol Airport - Duivendrecht/Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena line following five years of reconstruction work.

CZECH private passenger operator GW Train Regio has been directly awarded a 10-year contract by the Czech Ministry of Transport to operate express services on the Plzen - Most line.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) will introduce a high-frequency service on the Amsterdam - Eindhoven corridor and step up train frequency on other routes in December 2017.