THE total number of fatalities on Europe's railways declined from 1095 in 2011 to 1011 in 2012 according to the International Union of Railways' (UIC) annual Railway Accidents in Europe report, which was released at the end of December.
WASHINGTON Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) formally launched trial operation of the first Kawasaki 7000 series metro train at Greenbelt station on January 6.
THE German state of Saxony-Anhalt has published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) for the direct award of a contract to operate Halle – Nuremberg regional services to German Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio Nordostbayern.
CCR, the build-and-operate concessionaire constructing the second phase of the metro network in the Brazilian city of Salvador, has awarded Egis Rail a contract to provide systems engineering services for the project.
FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) has awarded Tata Steel a contract to supply more than 200,000 tonnes of rail for use on conventional and high-speed lines across France.
ITALY's open access high-speed rail operator NTV carried 6.2 million passengers last year compared with more than 2 million between its launch on April 28 2012 and the end of 2012.
BRITAIN's Department for Transport (DfT) has published a prior information notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for the direct award of a new contract to Stagecoach for the operation of the South West Trains (SWT) franchise.
THALES has been chosen by JR East to design Japan's first communications-based train control system (CBTC), following a competition between Thales and Alstom.
GERMAN passenger operator Rhenus Veniro has been awarded a contract to operate passenger services on the Mosel Wine Line, which runs from Bullay on the Koblenz – Trier line to Traben-Trarbach along the scenic Mosel valley.
VLI, the railfreight subsidiary of Brazilian mining giant Vale, is to acquire an additional 306 wagons from Amsted Maxion for use on Brazil's North-South Railway.
