BADEN-Württemberg Ministry of Transport announced on January 26 that it has awarded DB Regio a contract to operate regional services on the Rhine Valley line from Karlsruhe to Basle in Switzerland.

THE French Senate adopted a bill on January 26 ratifying the agreement between the French and Italian governments to build the €26.1bn Lyon - Turin high-speed line.

THE Chinese city of Harbin opened the first phase of its circular metro line on January 26, when trial passenger operation began on the 4km southern section of Line 3 between Harbin West Station and an interchange with Line 1 at Yidaeryuan.

MPK Poznan announced on January 23 that it has selected local supplier Modertrans for a contract to supply 50 low-floor LRVs.

NORFOLK Southern (NS) managed to increase its annual profit by 7% to $US 1.67bn in 2016 compared with $US 1.56bn in 2015 despite a fall in operating income. NS’s fourth quarter performance was even better with a 15% jump in operating income.

MANAGEMENT of Denmark’s national ERTMS rollout and the introduction of CBTC on the Copenhagen S-Train network has been strongly criticised in a report by the country’s National Audit Office, which was published on January 25.

THE first Brightline train began testing on January 19 on a 14.5km test track from Park Place in West Palm Beach to Central Boulevard in Lantana.

NAMIBIA’s national railway TransNamib moved an important step closer to alleviating its chronic locomotive shortage on January 13, when a batch of six GE Transportation C23EMP diesel-electric locomotives arrived at the port of Walvis Bay.

A new fares concept offering 16-27-years olds almost unlimited travel on TGV and inter-city services was unveiled on January 25 by Mrs Rachel Picard, CEO of Voyages SNCF.

HUNGARIAN national passenger operator MÁV-Start has taken delivery of its final Flirt EMU from Stadler Rail.