GERMANY's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) has issued an Authorisation to Place into Service for the multi-system variant of Siemens' Vectron electric locomotive.

AMTRAK has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for 28 high-speed trains, which will replace the Acela Express fleet on the Washington DC – New York – Boston Northeast Corridor (NEC).

BASQUE metre-gauge operator EuskoTren has awarded CAF a €150m contract to supply 28 three-car EMUs, which will be used on Bilbao metro Line 3 and will also replace some of the oldest trains in its current fleet.

SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) has awarded Harsco a SFr 100m ($US 113m) contract to supply 59 catenary maintenance and renewal vehicles, which will replace older units and expand the fleet to meet future maintenance requirements.

POMERANIAN Metropolitan Railway (PKM) has awarded Pesa Bydgoszcz a €27.5m contract to supply three two-car and seven three-car DMUs for the 17km line linking Gdansk and Gdynia with Lech Walesa Airport, which is due to open next year.

A genset locomotive is to be developed for Russia and neighbouring CIS countries following an agreement between Russia's Yakutia Railways and Molinari Rail, Switzerland.

THE NEW CEO of Netherlands Railways (NS) Mr Timo Huges, has informed the Dutch secretary of state for infrastructure Mrs Wilma Mansveld that NS will not acquire any new inter-city rolling stock before 2021.

FOLLOWING a competitive tender, Macedonian Railways (MZ) signed a €25m contract with representatives of CSR Zhuzhou, China, in the Macedonian capital Skopje on June 24 for six regional trains.

VOSSLOH's new management team has announced a major restructuring of the company to improve its long-term profitability, but with additional costs of up to €250m Vossloh says it expects to lose between €150m and €180m this year.

UKRAINIAN Railways (UZ) introduced the first of two prototype EKr1 'Tarpan' long-distance EMUs on the Kiev Darnytsia – Lviv route on June 24.