THE German rail industry achieved a 5.2% increase in exports in 2016 to €6.1bn taking exports to 52% of total sales of €11.8bn. However, domestic sales fell by 12% to €5.7bn compared with 2015.

SLOVAKIA’s national passenger operator ZSSK has awarded ŽOS Vrútky, Slovakia a contract worth around €77m to supply 21 additional class 861 DMUs to replace ageing locomotive-hauled trains in the Zvolen area.

THE first CAF New Generation Sprinter (SNG) EMU for Netherlands Railways (NS) began dynamic testing at the VUZ Velim test centre in the Czech Republic on April 5.

ALSTOM’s Prima H3 hybrid shunting locomotive has been certified by the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA) to operate at up to 100km/h in Germany.

SEVEN Pendolino trains owned by Czech Railways (ČD) which have been in operation for 12 years will undergo a fundamental refurbishment over the coming months.

SOUTH Africa’s president Mr Jacob Zuma unveiled on April 4 the first diesel locomotive to be designed, engineered and manufactured by Transnet Engineering, the engineering and manufacturing division of Transnet.

STADLER, Switzerland, is considering moving the production of double-deck trains from its existing outdated factory in Altenrhein to a new facility in St Margrethen in order to reduce costs and be able to continue producing these trains in Switzerland.

SIEMENS has delivered the first two of 10 new Vectron multi-system locomotives to Alpha Trains which are being leased to TX Logistik, Germany, to transport freight between Germany, Austria and Italy.

A tender has been issued by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) for new DMUs under a five-year framework contract with an option to extend it by another five years.

SNCF Mobility has awarded Alstom a contract worth approximately €250m for a further 30 Coradia trains for use on French Intercity and regional services.