THE German rail industry achieved a 25% increase in revenue last year to €12.5bn, with domestic orders rising 26% from €5.3bn to €6.7bn and exports increasing by 23% from €4.7bn to €5.8bn. The results were announced on April 14 at the annual press conference of the German Rail Industry Association (VDB) in Berlin.

THE European Union's TEN-T programme will provide more than €15m to support the deployment of the European Train Control System (ETCS) on rolling stock in three member states: Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg. All the projects will be completed by the end of the year.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) has complained to the organisers of the Paris – Roubaix cycle race for allowing several competitors to stream across a level crossing well after the barriers had come down, narrowly avoiding a collision with a TGV.

THALES has been awarded a €17m contract to supply signalling, telecommunications, and an Operational Control Centre for the Danhai light rail line in New Taipei City.

Initial reports into the causes of Spain's deadliest train accident, which occurred nearly two years ago in Santiago de Compostela, cited driver error as the sole cause. But now a deeper study of the accident by a judicial investigation says lack of a functioning onboard ETCS system was a crucial factor, as Fernando Puente reports from Madrid.

LONDON Underground (LU) has confirmed that work will start this year on the revisedd project to introduce a new train control system on the Sub-Surface Line network comprising the Circle, Metropolitan, District and Hammersmith & City lines.

BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail has awarded Signalling Solutions (SSL), a 50:50 joint venture between Alstom and Balfour Beatty Rail, a £43m contract to carry out resignalling work on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) as part of London's new east-west Crossrail link, which is due to open at the end of 2018.

GERMAN infrastructure manager DB Networks has announced plans to invest €95m in renewal of signalling systems in the 6km Frankfurt City Tunnel to increase capacity and improve reliability in the core of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn network.

SPAIN's high-speed network infrastructure manager, Adif AV, has awarded a €29.6m contract to a consortium of Thales and Bombardier to install ETCS Level 1 on the 210km Valencia - Vandellós section of the Valencia - Barcelona Mediterranean Corridor.

QATAR Railways sent a conditional letter of acceptance on February 20 to its preferred bidder for a turnkey contract to supply electrical and mechanical systems including rolling stock for the first phase of the Doha metro network.