Geert Pauwels, CEO of Lineas, talks to Keith Barrow.

Renato Mazzoncini, chief executive officer of Italian State Railways (FS), talks to David Briginshaw.

FLORIDA’s privately-owned inter-city operator Brightline introduced its first scheduled passenger trains on January 13, with the launch of introductory services between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

CAF chief executive Andrés Arizkorreta talks to Keith Barrow.

A NEW 15-year contract for the operation of regional rail services in Italy’s Veneto region was signed on January 11 by Mrs Elisa De Berti, regional councillor for public works, infrastructure and transport, and Mr Orazio Iacono, CEO of Trenitalia.

BRITISH construction and facilities management company Carillion went into compulsory liquidation on January 15 following the failure of emergency talks with lenders and the government to avert the group’s collapse.

AFTER publishing a call for tenders in September 2017, Hungary’s National Infrastructure Development Agency (NIF) has cancelled a project to electrify the 53km Zalaszentiván - Nagykanizsa line, in accordance with a governmental decree which updates the list of projects eligible for funding from the state, and eventually the European Union (EU).

DIRECT passenger trains were restored between the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and Latvia’s second-largest city Daugavpils on January 13, when Lithuanian Railways (LG) launched a new twice-daily weekend service aimed at the leisure and tourist markets.

AFTER running its final diesel-operated services at the end of 2017, Netherlands Railways (NS) has sold its last remaining DMUs to a Romanian operator.

ARGENTINA’s Ministry of Transport published a resolution in the Official Gazette of the Republic on December 29 confirming its intention to award CRRC Qingdao Sifang a $US 316.5m contract to supply 200 EMU cars for the Buenos Aires suburban network.