Work is underway to lay the framework for a new standardised railway telecommunications network to replace GSM-R beginning in 2021 or 2022. But as Kevin Smith discovers, a great deal of uncertainty persists over the technology that this new network will use and whether the railway sector is ready to replace its existing 2G networks.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) reported an increased turnover of €5.1bn (2.4%) in its annual report for 2016 which was released on February 28.

A project to introduce a new common design of train on the Tokyo metro and Tobu Railway reached a milestone at the end of February when Tobu Railway received its first 70000 series EMU from Kinki Sharyo.

AUSTRALIA’s Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) will take over full jurisdiction for railway safety in Queensland on June 30 following the passing of legislation by the state government on February 28 for it to cede responsibility to ONRSR.

OMAHA City Council has received a final financial assessment of the proposed Omaha Urban Circulator, which is estimated to cost $US 156m and scheduled to open in 2022.

BRITAIN’s Department for Transport (DfT) announced on March 1 that it has shortlisted three bidders for a contract to operate the East Midlands franchise from next year.

In Arica, in the far north of Chile, two international railways converge, one from Tacna, in Peru, and the other from Bolivia. After years of inactivity, both are springing back to life, with an eye on the tourism market, reports Ian Thomson Newman.

Rift Valley Railways, which has the concession to operate and maintain Kenya’s 1918km metre-gauge network, wants Kenya Railways, the regulator, to take back control of the infrastructure and is seeking a new investor to put it on a sound financial footing. RVR’s new group CEO, Mr Isaiah Okoth, spoke to David Briginshaw at the International Railway Summit in Paris about his plans to revive RVR’s fortunes.

FRENCH president Mr François Hollande attended an inauguration ceremony at Villognon in the southwestern department of Charente on February 28 to mark the official completion of infrastructure on the Sud Europe Atlantique high-speed line from Tours to Bordeaux.

Known to many as the headquarters of Netherlands Railways (NS) and a major hub in the Dutch railway network, the city of Utrecht is expanding and enhancing its light rail system. Keith Barrow reports from the Netherlands’ fourth-largest city on how extension of the network to the east will bring a massive capacity boost to a congested public transport corridor.