THE Polish region of West Pomerania has awarded Newag a contract worth around Zlotys 250m ($US 64.3m) to supply 17 Impuls regional EMUs.

With recent approval of the Fourth Railway Package, the process for authorising new rail vehicles and certifying train operators is set for a radical overhaul. European Union Agency for Railways executive director
Josef Doppelbauer tells Keith Barrow how these processes will be streamlined, harmonised and centralised in just three years.

CRRC Corporation more than doubled orders from outside China in the first half of this year, according to a financial release filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 23.

TORONTO and Hamilton transit authority Metrolinx has appointed CH2M as vehicle technology consultant for the Toronto Regional Express Rail (RER) project.

ESKISEHIR Light Rail Transportation Company (EsTram) has awarded Škoda Transportation a contract worth around €26m to supply 14 28T ForCity Classic low-floor LRVs, which will be equipped with batteries for catenary-free operation.

A consortium of Stadler Poland and Stadler Bussnang has been awarded a contract by Austrian-Hungarian operator Györ-Sopron-Ebenfurth Railway (GySEV) to supply 10 four-car Flirt 3 EMUs for regional services in western Hungary.

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

GERMAN Rail (DB) has announced it is working with technical universities in Chemnitz and Dresden to develop bi-mode (diesel and electric) trains with lithium-ion battery storage. Between 2017 and 2021 DB intends to convert 13 existing Siemens class 642 Desiro Classic DMUs to hybrid bi-mode configuration.

GB Railfreight, Britain, has agreed to lease 41 new Greenbrier wagons from Nacco Leasing after securing a five-year extension to a contact to transport sand between eastern and northeast England.

STATE Railway of Thailand (SRT) launched its first new passenger vehicles for more than 20 years on August 29, when a rake of inter-city coaches supplied by CRRC Corporation, China, made an inaugural run from Bangkok Hua Lamphong to Nakhon Pathom.