THE president of Italian open-access operator NTV Mr Andrea Faragalli and Mr Michele Viale, managing director of Alstom Italy signed a contract in Rome on September 7 for the supply and maintenance of four additional Pendolino tilting trains.

GREAT Western Railway (GWR) launched electric suburban services out of London Paddington on September 5, when the first two of 45 class 387 Electrostar EMUs began operating peak services to Hayes & Harlington.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) rolling stock maintenance subsidiary Nedtrain launched construction on a new overhaul and refurbishment workshop at its Haarlem facility on September 1.

GermanRail’s (DB) long distance passenger division has drawn up a strategy to attract 50 million more passengers annually by 2030 in the face of rapidly growing competition from long distance buses and carpooling. Keith Fender reports on how DB is going about achieving this ambitious target.

THE Polish region of West Pomerania has awarded Newag a contract worth around Zlotys 250m ($US 64.3m) to supply 17 Impuls regional EMUs.

With recent approval of the Fourth Railway Package, the process for authorising new rail vehicles and certifying train operators is set for a radical overhaul. European Union Agency for Railways executive director
Josef Doppelbauer tells Keith Barrow how these processes will be streamlined, harmonised and centralised in just three years.

CRRC Corporation more than doubled orders from outside China in the first half of this year, according to a financial release filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 23.

TORONTO and Hamilton transit authority Metrolinx has appointed CH2M as vehicle technology consultant for the Toronto Regional Express Rail (RER) project.

ESKISEHIR Light Rail Transportation Company (EsTram) has awarded Škoda Transportation a contract worth around €26m to supply 14 28T ForCity Classic low-floor LRVs, which will be equipped with batteries for catenary-free operation.

A consortium of Stadler Poland and Stadler Bussnang has been awarded a contract by Austrian-Hungarian operator Györ-Sopron-Ebenfurth Railway (GySEV) to supply 10 four-car Flirt 3 EMUs for regional services in western Hungary.