Quintus Vosman

IN an effort to fill the void left by the abandonment of Brussels – Amsterdam Fyra services, Thalys is planning to introduce two additional weekday services to Amsterdam from October 7.

INFRASTRUCTURE maintenance and construction company Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group is to take on most of the workforce and contracts of Universale Bau, a subsidiary of Austria's insolvent Alpine Bau Group.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has confirmed that it will order Bombardier Traxx locomotives to replace the abandoned V250 high-speed trains manufactured by AnsaldoBreda for Fyra services between Amsterdam and Brussels.

RHINE-Main Transport Association (RMV) has published a tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for a contract to operate part of the Main-Neckar-Reid network in southern Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.

ARRIVA has been selected by the municipal government of The Hague to operate a direct open-access service between the Dutch city and Brussels from December 2015.

ŠKODA Transportation is celebrating a landmark order for its 200km/h 109E electric locomotive after German Rail (DB) placed an order for six units, which will be used on push-pull regional trains in southern Germany.

A MAJOR step towards creating a standardised European system for rolling stock approvals was made on June 10, when the EU Transport Council adopted a 'general approach' on new rules which will introduce a single European authorisation for placing into service (APS) for railway vehicles.

ABELLIO Rail NRW signed a contract with Stadler Pankow on June 12 for a fleet of 20 five-car Flirt emus, which will be used on the Dutch-German Lower Rhine Network from December 2016.

THE Dutch government announced on June 7 that it has decided to cancel its contract with AnsaldoBreda for 16 V250 high-speed trains, in accordance with the wishes of Netherlands Railways (NS).

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) says it is considering abandoning its fleet of V250 trains as it is unconvinced that AnsaldoBreda will be able to correct the numerous faults on the trains within an acceptable period.