CZECH open-access long-distance passenger operator Leo Express announced on June 24 that it has carried more than 400,000 passengers in the six months since the launch of its full timetable on January 18.
RIFT Valley Railways (RVR) says it expects to begin test operation on its northern Uganda branch from Tororo near the Kenyan border to Pakwach on the northern shore of Lake Albert by the end of July, 18 years after services were suspended.
TAIWAN High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) has awarded a consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Toshiba the contract for trackwork and electrical & mechanical (E&M) works on the 9.2km extension of the Kaohsiung – Taipei high-speed line from Taipei Railway Station to Nangang.
THE second phase of the light rail network in the Norwegian city of Bergen was inaugurated on June 21, when Hordaland county mayor Mr Tom-Christer Nilsen and Bergen mayor Mrs Trude Drevlan officially opened the 3.6km extension from Nesttun to Lagunen station in the district of Rådal.
THE Romanian government has announced that it has chosen Romanian open-access operator Grup Feroviar Român (GFR) as the preferred bidder for a 51% stake in national railfreight operator CFR Marfă.
PUBLIC Transport Victoria (PTV) has awarded Alstom a contract worth around $A 121.5m ($US 111.8m) to supply eight additional six-car X'Trapolis emus for the Melbourne suburban network.
ARRIVA has been selected by the municipal government of The Hague to operate a direct open-access service between the Dutch city and Brussels from December 2015.
TRANSMASHHOLDING (TMH) has signed an agreement with Tognum, the parent company of MTU, to establish a joint-venture which will manufacture diesel engines for rail vehicles at a new plant in Kolomna in Moscow Oblast.
THE Bulgarian Privatisation and Post-Privatisation Control Agency (PPCA) announced on June 20 that it has decided to cancel the privatisation of Bulgarian State Railways' (BDZ) freight unit BDZ Tovarni Prevozi, which has been delayed by a freeze on assets sought by a creditor.
KING Mohammed VI of Morocco formally launched the modernisation of the 354km Fez – Oujda line on June 19 during a royal visit to the city of Oujda in the northeast of the country.
