FLIXMOBILITY, the parent company of German long-distance bus operator FlixBus, announced on March 6 that tickets have gone on sale for its first open-access intercity train services, which will serve 28 stations in five German states.

ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV-Italo and Spanish national train operator Renfe have been granted permission by Britain’s Department for Transport (DfT) to participate in upcoming rail franchise competitions.

ITALY’s infrastructure manager, Italian Rail Network (RFI) has awarded a €67m contract to Astaldi to complete a project to increase capacity in Genoa following its decision to rescind the previous contract after the original consortium exoerienced financial difficulties.

GERMAN Rail (DB) plans to increase spending on maintaining and modernising the existing 33,200km rail network, as well as investment in new projects, by €800m to a record €9.8bn in 2018.

STATE support for Via Rail’s Fleet Renewal Program was confirmed on February 27 with the publication of the Canadian government’s 2018 budget, which allocates funds to Transport Canada for the procurement of new trains for the Windsor - Quebec City corridor.

THE British government has granted funding to infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) to design, develop a business case, and conduct public consultation on a project to increase capacity in the Croydon area, a major bottleneck on the London - Brighton main line.

SWEDISH open-access passenger operator SagaRail launched its inaugural commercial services on February 23, with the first train departing from Stockholm Central at 13.08 bound for Linköping.

OPEN-access passenger operator Leo Express has submitted track access applications to the Czech Office for Access to Transport Infrastructure (ÚDPI) for international services to destinations in Austria, Germany, and Poland.

BOSNIA and Herzegovina Federal Railways (ŽFBiH), one of two companies operating train services in the Balkan country, has posted its strongest financial results for 25 years.

PLANS to extend the 1520mm-gauge network from Kosice, Slovakia, to Vienna by building a €6.5bn 400km electrified freight-only line, have been revived. The line would improve access to Europe for traffic from Russia and the Far East.