PRESIDENT François Hollande of France has intervened in a bid to prevent Alstom from closing its Belfort locomotive and TGV power car manufacturing plant.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Messe Berlin, the organiser of the InnoTrans railway exhibition which took place in Berlin from September 20-23, says the event attracted 144,470 trade visitors - an increase of 4% compared with 2014 - from more than 140 countries.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Stadler formally launched the new EuroDual bi-mode locomotive for British operator Direct Rail Services (DRS) at InnoTrans on September 20.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Rolls-Royce Power Systems has signed a letter of intent with Vossloh Locomotives for the supply of 44 MTU Series 4000 engines, which will be used in the fleet of DE18 locomotives recently ordered by leasing company Akiem.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) revealed its InnoShunt eHybrid shunting locomotive at InnoTrans on September 20.

RAILCARE, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiss retail group Coop, has awarded Siemens a contract to supply and maintain seven Vectron AC electric locomotives, which will be equipped with a last-mile diesel engine for operation on non-electrified sidings.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: GERMAN Rail (DB), Toshiba and Henschel have annouced details of a project to covert older diesel locomotives to hybrid power.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Progress Rail launched its EMD Uptime condition-based analytics platform for locomotives in Berlin on September 21.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: GERMAN specialist locomotive builder Schalke is displaying two custom-design electric locos at Innotrans.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Speaking at the opening press conference for InnoTrans 2016 in Berlin, Dr Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin, said a new exhibition hall will be ready in time for the 2018 edition of InnoTrans to cope with increasing demand for exhibition space.