BAVARIAN Railway Company (BEG) confirmed on December 16 that it will conclude two contracts to operate the Nuremberg S-Bahn network with National Express after the regional high court in Munich ruled that the operator has provided sufficient financial performance guarantees in compliance with the terms of the original tender.

FOR the first time a train has operated under ETCS with cab signalling through central London marking six years of development by Network Rail (NR) for the Thameslink upgrading project.

ALSTOM confirmed on December 15 that it has signed a €160m contract with Hessen State Railways (HLB) to supply 30 Coradia Continental EMUs for the Südhessen-Untermain regional network in central Germany.

CHINA Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) has awarded Hollysys Automation Technologies a Yuan 483.8m ($US 74.9m) contract to supply Automatic Train Protection (ATP) equipment for 179 high-speed trains being built for China Railway Corporation.

ANGOLAN National Railways (INCFA) is planning to begin civil works early next year on a project to construct a second track on part of the Luanda Railway (CFL), which links the capital with Malanje and Dondo.

BRITAIN's Department for Transport (DfT) announced on December 15 that it has awarded 11 companies Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) Passports in a bid to streamline the bidding process for rail franchises.

THE first pre-series class 490 EMU for the Hamburg S-Bahn network is nearing completion at Bombardier's Hennigsdorf plant north of Berlin, and according to the manufacturer is due to begin testing next month.

PKP Intercity's new fleet of ED160 Flirt 3 EMUs entered commercial service on the morning of December 13, when one of the eight-car trains formed the 05.07 from Gdynia to Katowice via Warsaw.

THE final phase of Vienna's new Main Station became operational on December 13, bringing a major-shake up of long-distance services into the Austrian capital.

TORONTO commuter rail operator Go Transit has taken delivery of its first locomotive to comply with the latest US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 4 emissions regulations.