BRITAIN's Department for Transport (DfT) announced on April 16 that it has signed a 27-month direct award franchise agreement with Abellio for the Greater Anglia franchise, which covers the operation of around 33.3 million train-km per year on a 1600 route-km network in eastern England.

DURING a Parliamentary meeting on railways, Dutch secretary of state for infrastructure, Mrs. Wilma Mansveld announced that the government is willing to provide funds for the electrification of the Maas Line from Nijmegen to Roermond via Venlo.

THE Dutch cabinet has approved a €2.5bn budget to install ERTMS on all trains by 2022 and on the busiest sections of the national rail network by 2030.

RHINE-RUHR Transport Authority (VRR) announced on April 11 that it has awarded German Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio NRW an interim contract to operate the future Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network between December 2016 and December 2018.

WITH less than a year to go before the launch of its MTR Express inter-city services, MTR Corporation subsidiary MTR Nordic submitted a track access application to Swedish infrastructure manager Trafikverket on April 15 for train paths on the Stockholm – Gothenburg line.

THE government of the Australian state of Victoria has committed to the construction of a heavy rail link connecting central Melbourne with the city's airport, 23km to the north at Tullamarine, although it has not indicated how much it will cost or when it will open.

INTERNATIONAL high-speed operator Thalys launched a new twice-daily direct service between Amsterdam Central and Lille Europe on April 12.

MUNICIPAL authorities in San Diego, California, and the neighbouring city of Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California have revived plans for a light rail line spanning the US-Mexican border.

BREMEN Tramways (BSAG) has announced plans to acquire a fleet of up to 77 LRVs and refurbish up to 62 existing GT8N low-floor trams as part of its demand-driven tram use (Nose) project.

ITALIAN Rail Network (RFI) has refuted claims that it gave Trenitalia a competitive advantage over its open-access high-speed competitor NTV by denying NTV access to Rome Termini station in the centre of the Italian capital.