FOLLOWING a period of preparatory works, main construction began on Austria's 27.3km Semmering Base Tunnel on January 7.

GERMANY's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) has granted Vossloh's G12 and G18 four-axle single-cab freight locomotives an authority to place into service for operation on the German network.

BELARUS Railways (BC) has awarded China National Electric Import and Export Corporation (CUEC) a contract to electrify the 80km line from Maladzyechna, 72km northwest of Minsk, to Gudohay and the Lithuanian border.

ROMANIAN rolling stock manufacturer Softronic has unveiled the prototype of its new Hyperion emu, which is expected to begin mainline testing next month.

STUTTGART Tramways (SSB) has ordered an additional 20 Tango S-DT8.12 high-floor LRVs from Stadler Pankow, exercising an option from an initial contract for 20 vehicles, which was signed in January 2010.

CZECH open-access long-distance passenger operator RegioJet is set to expand its transport capacity considerably following the acquisiton of 45 coaches from Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).

VR Group, Finland, has unveiled the first of 26 IC2 DuettoPlus double-deck dining cars, which are being built by Finnish supplier Transtech at its plant in Otanmäki.

FRANCE's deputy minister of transport, Mr Frédéric Cuvillier, has instructed French National Railways (SNCF) and French Rail Network (RFF) to implement three recommendations to improve track safety made by the Office of Land Transport Accident Inquiries (BEA-TT).

DUTCH infrastructure manager ProRail is to equip a further 2800 signals with the so called ATB-vv train protection system, which triggers an automatic brake application if a train passes a danger signal at less than 40km/h.

LEASING company Alpha trains has acquired 202 rolling stock assets from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) through its Alpha Trains Luxembourg No 2 subsidiary in a mixed asset and shares transaction, which was concluded last month.