SIEMENS has rolled out the first Desiro ML train for Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) which has branded the EMU fleet Cityjet.

THE Czech Republic's minister of transport, Ing Antonín Prachar, has dismissed the CEO of Czech Railways (CD), Mr Daniel Kurucz, after serving only nine months in office. CD's new CEO is Mr Pavel Krtek who was previously chief financial officer.

THE Hungarian government has approved the purchase by MÁV-Start, Hungary's national passenger operator, of six EMUs with an option for 15 more units.

A GROUNDBREAKING ceremony was staged in Los Angeles on November 7 to mark the start of work on the first phase of a project to extend the Purple Line metro by 6.35km from its current terminus at Wilshire/Western to Wilshire/La Cienega in Beverly Hills. The extension will open in 2023.

THE Chilean government has announced a $US 4.2bn urban public transport investment plan, of which some 45% is slated to be financed by concessionaires.

THE mayor of Rome, Mr Ignazio Marino, officially opened the first section of Line C on November 9. This is the Italian capital's third metro line.

BELARUS Railways (BC) opened a rail link between Minsk Passazhirskiy in the city centre and Minsk National Airport on November 7.

A SIX-YEAR project by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to reconstruct Salzburg main station was officially completed on November 7 at a cost of €250m.

THALYS, which operates high-speed services between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne and Essen, will become an independent company on March 31 2015 for the first time since it was set up as a purely commercial entity in 1996.

THE Czech Ministry of Transport and Czech rail infrastructure manager SŽDC have launched a feasibility study into the possible conversion of all lines currently electrified at 3kV dc to 25kV ac 50Hz.