THE EUROPEAN Rail Freight Association (ERFA) has warned the European Parliament that competition in the railfreight sector is being "strangled" by an inadequate regulatory structure and monopolistic behaviour by incumbent operators.

RAILFREIGHT volumes on the major transalpine routes across Switzerland continued to recover in the first half of 2014, according to the latest statistics from the Swiss Federal Transport Ministry (BAV).

FRANCE's network of conventional Intercity services is facing a "fragile and uncertain" future according the National Federation of Public Transport Associations (FNAUT), which warns that weak governance and uncertainty over funding threatens the existence of the network.

MPK Lodz has selected Pesa Bydgoszcz as preferred bidder for a contract to supply 22 low-floor LRVs for the city's 120km metre-gauge tram network.

THE first prototype of Talgo's new-generation Avril high-speed train has begun dynamic testing on the Spanish high-speed network.

POLAND's largest railfreight operator PKP Cargo has announced that it is in acquisition talks with the owners of three open-access freight operators in Poland and the Czech Republic.

ONEROUS border controls imposed by the British government will force passengers using Eurostar's new Marseille - London service to go through immigration and security controls lasting nearly two hours at Lille Europe when the service starts next year.

BASLE Transport Authority celebrated a milestone in its largest-ever procurement of new vehicles on September 4 with the delivery of the first of 60 Flexity low-floor LRVs from Bombardier's Bautzen plant in eastern Germany.

THE first of the V250 Fyra high-speed trains rejected by Netherlands Railways (NS) began its journey from Watergraafsmeer yard in Amsterdam back to the AnsaldoBreda plant in Pistoia, Italy, on September 7.

EQT Infrastructure II, a €1.9bn equity fund, is to take a majority stake in Hector Rail, a private Swedish railfreight company which operates trains in Scandinavia and Germany.