BRITAIN’s East Coast franchise returned to government-owned operation on June 25 with the launch of London North Eastern Railway-branded (LNER) services following the failure of the eight-year Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) franchise jointly held by Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin (10%).

CZECH open-access operator Leo Express announced on June 20 that tickets have gone on sale for its new Prague - Krakow service, which will begin operating on July 20.

AFTER a three-year hiatus, passenger services resumed between Tabriz in northwest Iran and Van, Turkey on June 18.

THE Delhi metro network reached the city of Bahadurgarh in Haryana state on June 24 with the opening of the 11.2km western extension of the Green Line (Line 5) from Mundka to City Park.

WARSAW Metro has selected a consortium of Škoda Transportation and Škoda Vagonka as preferred bidders to supply 74 driving cars and 148 intermediate cars formed into 37 seven-car sets, with an option for eight additional trains - the metro’s largest-ever order for new rolling stock.

KOREA's national operator Korail opened the 23.3km-long Seohae Line in Gyeonggi Province on June 16, with the new commuter line located east of the capital and connected to the Seoul Metropolitan network. Originally named the Sosa - Wonsi Line, it begins in Sosa in Bucheon and runs through Siheung to Wonsi in Ansan.

BLS, Switzerland’s second biggest railway, announced on June 21 it has decided to accept the two concessions it has been awarded by the Swiss Federal Transport Office (BAV), and will not appeal the decision not to grant it a further three concessions.

SÃO Paulo Metro (CMSP) will retrofit 88 platform screen doors in 36 of the Brazilian city’s busiest stations on the Blue, Green and Red lines, with the tender expected to be released later this year and the contract for the four and a half year project due to be signed early next year.

THE first 96 Bombardier C30 metro trains for Stockholm Local Transport (SL) arrived in the Swedish capital on June 19, with the trains set to enter service on the Red Line in summer 2019.

SWITZERLAND’s Lugano Railways (FLP) has awarded Stadler a SFr 47m ($US 47.3m) contract to supply nine low-floor tram-trains as part of a major expansion of its Lugano - Ponte Tresa line services to cope with a 70% increase in ridership over the past 10 years to 2.5 million passengers a year.