BRITAIN’s Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), the rail supply industry and a consortium of eight universities have secured £92m of funding to establish Britain as a global centre of rail excellence.

THE Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen, in association with Germany’s Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG), have awarded 15-year concessions worth €1.6bn to operate regional passenger services to Arriva Nederland, the incumbent operator.

TRAIN driving simulation specialists Corys, a subsidiary of Areva (66%) and EDF (34%), and RSI, a subsidiary of IFP training, have agreed to merge.

THE European Commission (EC) announced on July 11 that it has approved a Danish scheme to help rail freight operators fund the installation of ETCS equipment on their locomotives.

PRODUCTION of bodyshells for a new fleet of 160km/h Civity multiple units for British regional franchise Arriva Trains Northern has begun at CAF’s plants in Irun and Zaragoza, Spain.

THE last of 706 Vivalto double-deck coaches being built for Trenitalia under a framework contract awarded in 2010 to the former AnsaldoBreda left the Hitachi Rail Italy factory in Reggio Calabria on July 11.

SANTIAGO Metro has revealed the alignment and station locations for the Chilean capital’s seventh metro line, which will relieve the congested central section of Line 1.

ISRAEL’s Transport Ministry has granted the city of Beer-Sheva approval to proceed with preliminary design on a light rail line linking the city centre with the suburbs and nearby military facilities.

THE Brazilian government has confirmed that it will open bidding for a new sub-concession for the south-central section of the North-South Railway (FNS) in early 2018 with public hearings for possible bidders beginning at the end of June and set to run until August 11.

HANGZHOU extended its metro network to the northwest of the city on July 3 with the opening of the 11.6km Qianjiang Lu - Gucui Lu extension of Line 2.