THE positive trend for rail freight carriers in Croatia continued in the first quarter of 2018, resulting in an increase in the volume of goods carried and tonne-km.

THE number of passengers transported by rail in Bosnia during the first quarter of 2018 increased by 22.8% to 113,000, compared with 92,000 during the same quarter in 2017, according to data from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Agency for Statistics.

AMTRAK has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to explore the availability of rail vehicles to eventually replace its Amfleet I equipment, which includes single-level passenger coaches used primarily east of the Mississippi River on the Northeast Regional, Keystone, Carolinian and Illinois Service.

SOFIA metro operator Metropolitan has signed a Lev 958,000 (€489,800) deal with local company Sweco Energoproekt to design a 5.6km metro line with six stations, which will link the Bulgarian capital’s central areas with the eastern Slatina district.

A pre-feasibility study into an 11km extension of the Bucharest Metro has been approved by the Technical-Economic Council of Metrorex, which runs the metro in the Romanian capital.

OVERNIGHT testing of LRVs on the Canberra Metro light rail line has been ramped up with a view to achieving the scheduled opening at the end of 2018.

LAGOS Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Lamata) has signed a letter of intent with Alstom regarding phases 1 and 2 of the Blue Line, which will be the first metro line in Lagos.

BOMBARDIER presented its new Traxx MS3 freight locomotive to freight operators at its Kassel plant in Germany on July 4.

THE International Union of Railway (UIC) has named Mr François Davenne as its new director general while Mr Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of Italian state Railways (FS), has accepted an offer to continue as UIC chairman for another two years.

AFTER a 45-year hiatus, Cambodia Royal Railway restored passenger services between the country’s capital and the Thai border on July 4 with the inauguration of the final section of the reconstructed Phnom Penh - Poipet line.