TRIALS with variable-gauge Talgo coaches are due to begin on the Indian Railways (IR) broad-gauge network next month, with the first nine vehicles due to arrive at the port of Mumbai on April 21.

GERMAN Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio has awarded Alstom a €40m contract to supply eight Coradia Lint DMUs for the Central Franconia regional network around Nuremberg.

THE first two of 37 five-car trains being supplied by CAF for the expansion of the Santiago metro network was unloaded at the Chilean port of Valparaíso on April 6 following its long sea voyage from Bilbao.

SWITZERLAND's Appenzell Railways (AB) has awarded Stadler Rail a SFr 36m ($US 37.6m) contract to supply four four-car metre-gauge EMUs for the 32.1km Gossau - Wasserauen line.

AFTER a two-year wait, Indian Railways (IR) finally launched its fastest inter-city service on April 5, when railways minister Mr Suresh Prabhu flagged off the Gatimaan Express on its maiden run from Delhi to Agra.

BAY Area Rapid Transit (Bart) is starting dynamic testing of the first of 775 Fleet of the Future metro cars being built by Bombardier under a $US 2.5bn contract following arrival of the first car in San Francisco on April 6.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) confirmed to IRJ on April 6 that it is planning to start operations on the second phase of the Marmaray project in Istanbul in the first half of 2017.

THE Finnish government has allocated €84m towards the implementation of the Raide-Jokeri light rail line between Helsinki and the neighbouring city of Espoo as part of its 2017-2020 fiscal plan, which was announced on April 5.

DUTCH rail freight operators achieved high levels of growth last year according to a new report from infrastructure manager Prorail, which shows volumes increased 6% by both train-km (9.3 million) and tonne-km (13.6 billion) in 2015, with most of the growth occurring in the second half of the year.

LONG-held plans to liberalise Turkey's railway sector are set to be implemented during the second half of 2016 enabling private freight operators to access the network for the first time.