BASQUE metre-gauge operator EuskoTren has awarded CAF a €150m contract to supply 28 three-car EMUs, which will be used on Bilbao metro Line 3 and will also replace some of the oldest trains in its current fleet.

SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) has awarded Harsco a SFr 100m ($US 113m) contract to supply 59 catenary maintenance and renewal vehicles, which will replace older units and expand the fleet to meet future maintenance requirements.

POMERANIAN Metropolitan Railway (PKM) has awarded Pesa Bydgoszcz a €27.5m contract to supply three two-car and seven three-car DMUs for the 17km line linking Gdansk and Gdynia with Lech Walesa Airport, which is due to open next year.

THE NEW CEO of Netherlands Railways (NS) Mr Timo Huges, has informed the Dutch secretary of state for infrastructure Mrs Wilma Mansveld that NS will not acquire any new inter-city rolling stock before 2021.

FOLLOWING a competitive tender, Macedonian Railways (MZ) signed a €25m contract with representatives of CSR Zhuzhou, China, in the Macedonian capital Skopje on June 24 for six regional trains.

UKRAINIAN Railways (UZ) introduced the first of two prototype EKr1 'Tarpan' long-distance EMUs on the Kiev Darnytsia – Lviv route on June 24.

ONE year after steps were taken to speed up Germany's tortuous and costly train certification process, the German Railway Industry Association (VDB) says progress has been made, but the certification of modernised vehicles is still unclear and legislation is needed.

THE first of the fleet of 115 class 700 EMUs being supplied by Siemens for the upgraded cross-London Thameslink network has been tested successfully at its maximum operating speed of 160km/h at the Wildenrath test centre in Germany.

DANISH State Railways (DSB) has decided to launch a new study to ascertain whether it is realistic and financially viable to get its problematic fleet of IC4 DMUs to run with sufficiently-high operational stability.

PLANS by Amtrak and California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) to purchase a fleet of high-speed trains jointly have been scrapped as the two parties have acknowledged that the specifications differ too greatly.