Austria celebrated the opening of the new line from Vienna to St Pölten last month. While passenger journey times have been slashed, freight traffic is suffering from some early teething problems, as Erwin Reidinger reports.
ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV announced the results for its first eight months of operation on January 7, revealing it carried more than 2 million passengers on its Italo services from its launch on April 28 to the end of December.
THE Brazilian National Transport Agency (ANTT) has issued a call for tenders for Brazil's inaugural high-speed rail line from Rio Janeiro to São Paulo and Campinas. Prequalification bids will be accepted up to August 13 2013 for the supply of technology and to operate the 350km/h line, with a winner set to be announced on September 19 2013.
TEST running is now in full swing on the 681km high-speed line connecting the Chinese capital Beijing with Zhengzhou.
SPAIN's national train operator Renfe is ready to launch commercial services on the country's newest high-speed line next month.
EUROSTAR plans to conduct a two-month trial starting in May of a weekly service from London and Ashford to Lyon, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence in southern France.
JUST six days before the first trains were due to run, the Dutch government and Belgian National Railways (SNCB) have finally settled their long-running dispute over the launch of Fyra high-speed services between Amsterdam and Brussels, clearing the way for the launch of commercial operations on December 9.
THE long-awaited launch on December 9 of Fyra high-speed services between Amsterdam and Brussels using AnsaldoBreda V250 trains may be delayed.
TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has selected Alstom in a €22.3m, two-year maintenance contract for 12 250km/h six-car trains built by CAF which have been in operation on the Ankara - Eskisehir and Ankara - Konya high-speed lines since 2009.
SPAIN's state-owned train operating company, Renfe, and the country's infrastructure manager, Adif, have started passenger service tests on the mixed traffic high-speed line between Barcelona and the French border.
