THE CEO of German Rail (DB) Dr Rüdiger Grube announced DB's strategy for 2020 in Berlin today.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) is to introduce on March 31 a six-point guarantee for passengers using its TGV and Intercity services. The travel guarantee is designed to meet SNCF's ambition to be "the reference" for customer relations and the first European transport operator to guarantee its services. The six commitments are based on recommendations by France's National Consumers Association.

THE president and CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Mr Fred Green, will today mount a counterattack against a campaign to oust him by Mr Bill Ackman, CEO of a US hedge fund called Pershing Square Capital Management which has a 14.2% shareholding in CP. Ackman believes CP is under-performing - its operating ratio of 81.3% is the worst of the six North American Class 1 railways - and he wants to replace Green with former Canadian National CEO, Mr Hunter Harrison.

BRITAIN's infrastructure manager, Network Rail (NR), has agreed framework deals with Ansaldo STS, Infrasig, Invensys Rail, and Signalling Solutions to develop and design ETCS Level 2 signalling and train control for use in Britain.

THE first daily high-speed rail service, operated jointly by German Rail (DB) and French National Railways (SNCF), started today between Frankfurt and Marseille. The service, which is operated by 320km/h double-deck TGVs and uses the Rhine-Rhône high-speed line, cuts the journey time by 90 minutes.