GERMANY's Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has allocated up to €122m for construction of a new Rhine-Main S-Bahn link from Frankfurt Airport to Frankfurt Stadion and an additional link to Gateway Gardens in its federal programme for financing municipal transport.

SWEDISH train leasing company Transitio has awarded Stadler a SKr 3.5bn ($US 429m) contract to supply 33 four-car Kiss double-deck EMUs for regional services radiating from Stockholm.

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) says it will award a £260m contract to Bombardier for 45 EMUs for the expanding London Overground rail network. Delivery of the trains will start in 2018.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has exercised an option with Bombardier for 18 additional class 186 Traxx multi-system locomotives, which will be used to operate 160km/h passenger services from Amsterdam to Rotterdam and The Hague via the HSL South high-speed line.

THE Latvian presidency of the European Council reached a provisional deal with the European Parliament on June 17 on the final wording of the three legislative elements of the technical pillar of the Fourth Railway Package.

THREE years after the first train arrived in Italy, the fleet of CAF Civity EMUs ordered by the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia finally entered passenger service with the timetable change on June 14, when three ETR 563 sets were introduced on the Tarvisio - Udine - Trieste route.

LITHUANIAN Railways (LG) marked the completion of a major investment in freight facilities on May 26, when the country's prime minister Mr Algirdas Butkevičius and transport minister Mr Rimantas Sinkevičius inaugurated new intermodal terminals in Vilnius and Kaunas.

FOLLOWING a European tender, Rhine-Ruhr Transport Authority (VRR) announced on June 15 that it has selected National Express and Abellio for three contracts to operate the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network for up to 15 years from its launch in December 2018.

THE board of Ile-de-France transport authority Stif adopted a financing agreement on June 15 which will fully fund a €63m order for 17 additional Alstom Citadis LRVs for Paris light rail Line T3 to support the extension of the line and increase capacity on the existing route.