IRJ at SmartRail Europe, Amsterdam: Denmark's largest rail freight operator DB Cargo Scandinavia (DBCS) has warned it could be forced to pull out of the market because of the cost of equipping its locomotives with ETCS.

WABTEC has been awarded a $US 30m contract to supply Positive Train Control (PTC) equipment for Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District's (NICTD) 140km South Shore Line, which links Millennium station in Chicago with South Bend, Indiana.

CZECH Railways (ČD) announced on April 13 that it will equip 663 vehicles of 33 different types with ETCS Level 2 as deployment of the system continues under infrastructure manager SŽDC's ERTMS National Implementation Plan.

SOUTHEASTERN Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Septa) will begin provisional revenue service operations with Positive Train Control (PTC) from next week after receiving authorisation from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

With the sale of its power generation and turbine business to GE at the end of last year, Alstom has been left to focus entirely on its rail activities. Chairman and CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge explains the company's growth strategy to Keith Barrow.

EGYPTIAN National Railways (ENR) has awarded a contract to Siemens to resignal the main line from Benha, on the Cairo - Alexandria main line, via Zagazig to Port Said, and line from Zagazig to Abu Kebir, in the northeast of the country.

THE Shift²Rail Joint Undertaking (JU) has received 43 proposals with total requested funding of €80m for its first call for 15 topics for which only €26.1m is available, while the 27 Shift²Rail members have requested €63m for their 13 reserved topics to which they will contribute €80m.

SIEMENS and Huawei say they have moved a step closer towards the commercial deployment of CBTC over LTE after completing interoperability testing of a jointly-developed solution in France.

METROPOLITAN EAD, which operates the two-line metro in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, has awarded Siemens and Newag, Poland, a €140m contract to supply trains and signalling for the first phase of the new Line 3, which is due to open in 2019.

SYSTRA announced on March 3 that it has acquired Swedish railway signalling business Dalco Elteknik for an undisclosed sum.