TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has activated a two-year contract extension with British Steel for the supply of rails to London Underground, which will include the supply of two new rail types.

THE latest section of Nizhniy Novgorod’s metro connecting the city centre to the newly-built Nizhniy Novgorod Stadium opened on June 13, less than a week before the Russian city hosted its first match of the 2018 World Cup between Sweden and South Korea on June 18.

A lack of electrification on German cross-border rail routes is making it difficult for rail to compete with heavy goods vehicles (HGV) for a bigger market share of international freight movements through the country, the Berlin-based Pro-Rail Alliance (APS) says.

THE new CTrail Hartford Line commuter rail service, which connects New Haven, Hartford and Springfield in Connecticut, opened on June 16.

HELSINKI City Transport (HKL) has exercised an option to order another 10 ForCity Smart Artic trams from Transtech Oy, a subsidiary of Škoda Transportation, in addition to the 60 it had previously ordered.

BOMBARDIER Transportation opened its new final-assembly hall in Bautzen, Germany, on June 15 after investing €30m in the site.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Netherlands Railways (NS) are developing plans to reintroduce sleeper trains to Amsterdam, which was severed from the European night train network by the contraction and eventual abandonment of German Rail's (DB) City Night Line services.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has reportedly shelved its planned high-speed service between London, Cologne and Frankfurt, citing changes in the economic environment for its cancellation of the proposed service.

TWO million passengers have used German Rail’s (DB) Berlin - Munich high-speed line within six months of the opening of the final section of the line, more than double the amount traveling on the old line during the same period last year.

ITALY’s Puglia region signed a concession agreement with Trenitalia in Bari on June 13 to operate regional rail services. This is Italy’s first 15-year regional rail concession.