ACCORDING to a study by SCI Verkehr, Germany, the world market for metro cars is set to grow at an annual rate of 1-2% from what it describes as a very high current market volume of more than €8bn.

FRANCE’s Institute of Technological Research (IRT) SystemX, together with French National Railways (SNCF) and Alstom, has launched a two-year project to automate the observation functions of train drivers.

SWEDISH open-access operator MTR Express announced on April 12 that it will reduce journey times for its Stockholm - Gothenburg services after its fleet of Stadler Flirt trains received certification from rail regulator Transportstyrelsen to operate at their maximum speed of 200km/h.

CBH Group, Australia, has awarded a contract to Wi-Tronix, United States, to equip its fleet of 25 diesel-electric locomotives, which are used to haul grain trains, with Wi-Nostix, a predictive fault diagnostics and monitoring system.

MALAYSIA’s Ministry of Communications signed two contracts with CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive for 22 metre-gauge multiple units at a ceremony in Changsha, China, on April 11.

THE CEO of Italian State Railways (FS), Mr Renato Mazzoncini, signed an agreement in Rome on April 7 with Mr Guillermo Dietrich, Argentina’s minister of transport, for FS to provide technical assistance for the Buenos Aires Regional Express (RER) rail project.

COAL services operated by Australian rail freight operator Aurizon have suffered severe disruption following heavy rain and flooding caused by Cyclone Debbie which made landfall on the Queensland coast during the last week of March.

REGIONS of France, an association of regional authorities, held its first hearings on April 6 to gauge the potential for the introduction of competition in the provision of regional rail services, although this is not expected to start until 2024.

USE of both local and long-distance public transport services in Germany grew by 1.5% in 2016 to reach a new record of 11.38 billion journeys, according to provisional results published by the German Federal Statistics Office Destatis, which attributes the growth to an increase in population, employment and students.

JAPANESE metro operator Tokyo Metro has announced that it will assist Hanoi in the management and operation of its new metro network currently under construction through a new subsidiary, Vietnam Tokyo Metro (VTM).