A new rail link between Arcisate on the Varese - Porto Ceresio line in northern Italy and Stabio, Switzerland, was officially inaugurated on December 22 by Italy’s minister of transport and infrastructure Mr Graziano Delrio.

RHINE-Ruhr Transport Association (VRR) has invited bids for the operation of four regional lines in the Lower Rhine area.

THE first metro line in Guiyang, the capital of China’s southwestern Guizhou province, began carrying passengers on December 28 with the start of trial operation on the initial phase of Line 1.

GUANGZHOU’s metro network reached 390.6km on December 28 with the start of trial passenger operation on three new lines and an extension of the existing Line 4.

THE long-standing dispute between Toronto and Hamilton transit authority Metrolinx and Bombardier over the delivery of 182 LRVs has been resolved after six months of negotiations.

DUTCH rail infrastructure manager Prorail plans to start trials with automatic train operation (ATO) in 2018 on the Betuweroute freight line between the port of Rotterdam and the German border near Emmerich.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) has exercised an option from a contract awarded to Bombardier in 2010 for an additional 32 Omneo Premium double-deck 200km/h EMUs for operation on three so-called Balance of Territory (TET) inter-city services radiating from Paris.

BIDS have been invited by May 9 2018 for the operation of Network 7b of the EBO regional rail network in the Karlsruhe area of Germany. The tender is split in two lots and both concessions will be for 12 years starting in December 2022.

WUHAN added 55.3km to its metro network on December 26 with the opening of two new lines and an extension.

THALYS announced on December 22 that ridership on its services will exceed seven million in 2017, the first time in the operator’s 20-year history that passenger numbers have reached this figure.