ALSTOM has handed over the first of 26 modernised Coradia Lint 41 regional DMU to Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG) as part of a contract signed earlier this year.

GREATER Stockholm Local Transport (SL) has signed a contract extension with CAF to supply eight Urbos low-floor LRVs, to add to the 22 already built by CAF, which are running in Stockholm.

THE president of the Italian region of Sardinia Mr Francesco Pigliaru and Trenitalia managing director Mrs Barbara Morgante signed a nine-year contract in Cagliari on July 26 for the operation of passenger services on the island’s standard-gauge network.

GERMAN company Vossloh’s second quarter results of 2017 show that net sales rose by 16.7% to €492.2m after six months compared with the previous year, while the group’s Ebit rose by 37.1% to €26.6m for the same period, compared with the previous year’s €19.4m.

ITALIAN State Railways (FS) says traffic rose by 3% to 24 million journeys during the first half of 2017 on its 250 daily Frecce-branded services operated by Trenitalia comprising Frecciarossa and Frecciargento high-speed trains and Frecciabianca long-distance services.

GERMAN Rail (DB) announced on July 26 that it will raise its profit forecast for 2017 amid record ridership on German long-distance services and revenue growth at international subsidiaries Arriva and DB Schenker.

RIDERSHIP increased by 8% on Portuguese Trains (CP) services in the first half of this year, according to figures released by the company on July 21, which show passenger numbers rose by 3.9 million compared with the first half of 2016 to more than 60 million.

BADEN-Württemberg Ministry of Transport announced on July 24 that Hohenzollern Railways (HzL) and Southwest German Transport (Sweg) will merge on January 2018 following approval of the combination by district councils of Zollernalbkries and Sigmaringen.

THE first Stadler RABe 501 Giruno inter-city EMU for Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) began dynamic testing at the VUZ Velim test centre in the Czech Republic on July 24.

GERMAN Rail’s (DB) freight subsidiary DB Cargo has awarded Siemens a contract to upgrade its locomotive fleet with condition-based, predictive maintenance.