TRANSPORT for Wales announced on October 30 that Arriva has confirmed its intention to withdraw from the competition for the new Wales & Borders franchise.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on October 28 to mark the official start of construction on an SFr 1bn ($US 1bn) project to expand Berne Main Station, the second-largest station in Switzerland.

HEADS of state from Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia convened at the Port of Baku on October 30 for a ceremony marking the official completion of the 826km Kars - Tbilisi - Baku railway.

THE Norwegian Railway Directorate announced on October 24 that it has instructed state-owned rolling stock company Norske Tog to invite bids for a contract to purchase or lease a fleet of double-deck EMUs for commuter services on the Østfold Line south of Oslo.

GREEK infrastructure manager Ergose carried out the first electric test runs on the 10km Athens - Piraeus line on October 27, when a Siemens Desiro EMU made a return trip along the entire length of the route.

THE board of Belgian National Railways (SNCB) has approved a €3.2bn investment programme for 2018-2022, which will be implemented with the three core aims of improving services, the quality of stations, and the management and maintenance of the rolling stock fleet.

ACCORDING to a study conducted by SCI Verkehr, the €12.5bn market for railway products services in Germany is predicted to grow at an average of 3.4% per annum to reach €14.6bn by 2021, which is faster than the 2.3% annual global growth rate forecast by SCI last year.

BRITISH franchise operator First MTR South Western Railway has awarded Kiepe Electric UK a contract to conduct a traction upgrade and refurbishment on 18 class 442 trains, which were previously used on Gatwick Express services, ahead of their transition to the South Western Railway fleet.

TESTING has started in the Dutch province of Utrecht with the helloGo app, which will enable passengers to plan, book and purchase tickets using a single app for all modes of transport including rail, bus, taxi, bicycle and car rental.

NEW York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has contracted Cubic Transportation Systems to replace its iconic MetroCard ticketing system with a new contactless system similar to that already deployed in London.