FOR its January 2016 issue, International Railway Journal has forsaken its usual format for something a little different. The Railway in 2016 is a comprehensive look ahead to the trends and issues set to impact the global rail industry in 2016 and beyond through interviews and insight from leading industry figures from across the world.

EUROMAINT, Sweden, announced on December 28 that it has sold all of its shares in its German rolling stock maintenance business to Iberia Capital Group, Luxembourg, for an undisclosed sum.

INDIA's urban development minister Mr Venkaiah Naidu unveiled the first of 25 three-car Metropolis trains for Kochi Metro in a ceremony at Alstom's Sri City plant in Andhra Pradesh on January 2.

A consortium of China National Technical Import and Export Corporation and CRRC Corporation subsidiary Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock has completed delivery of an order for 11 electric locomotives for Uzbekistan Railways (UTY).

WINDHOFF has released further details of the 35 self-propelled On-Track Machines it is supplying Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in what it says is the company's largest ever order.

EUROTUNNEL reported on December 23 that its Le Shuttle railfreight service for road vehicles set an annual record for Channel Tunnel lorry shipments in 2015 beating the previous record set in 2012.

INITIAL testing has been completed at Siemens' Allach plant in Munich on the first three EU 46 Vectron electric locomotives for PKP Cargo.

COMMERCIAL services began on the 157.9km Tianjin - Baoding high-speed line on December 28, closing an important gap in the high-speed network south of Beijing.

ITALIAN minister for transport and infrastructure Mr Graziano Delrio and the mayor of Palermo Mr Leoluca Orlando inaugurated the Sicilian capital's light rail network on December 30.

BRITAIN's infrastructure manager, Network Rail (NR), has invited tenders for a £112m project to rebuild and expand Glasgow Queen Street station, the third busiest station in Scotland.