GROWTH in the business market and a further rise in travellers from the United States have helped Eurostar to achieve record first-quarter ridership, according to the latest figures from the international high-speed operator.

THE French Council of State has rejected appeals seeking to overturn the Declaration of Public Utility (DUP) authorising the Grand Southwestern Railway Project (GPSO), which will extend the Sud-Europ Atlantique high-speed line from Bordeaux to Toulouse with a branch to Dax.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded a €340m contract to Siemens to supply 10 more Velaro high-speed trains and to maintain them for three years.

ITALIAN State Railways (FS) rail freight subsidiary Mercitalia has unveiled plans to launch high-speed rail freight services in a bid to gain a share of the market for high-value time-sensitive goods.

MYHSR, which is responsible for building the Malaysian portion of the 350km Kuala Lumpur - Singapore high-speed line, has selected two consortia as project delivery partners to design and implement the civil works for the project.

THE European Commission (EC) has approved the acquisition of Italian open-access high-speed operator Italo-NTV by the US-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) III equity fund.

THALYS has announced it is planning to launch new services from Amsterdam to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Marne-la-Vallée, the station serving Disneyland Paris, in April 2019.

TESTING of Swiss Federal Railways’ (SBB) new fleet of RABEe 501 Giruno high-speed EMUs reached a milestone over the Easter weekend, when one of trains carried out a series of 275km/h runs in the Gotthard Base Tunnel.

TRACKLAYING is underway on the 253km Yerkoy - Sivas section of the 405km high-speed line under construction between the Turkish capital Ankara and Sivas in Anatolian province after a ground-breaking ceremony was held on March 25.

BRITAIN’s secretary of state for transport Mr Chris Grayling announced in a statement to parliament on March 27 that vertical integration or a public private partnership (PPP) could be considered for the future operation and maintenance of High Speed 2, which will link London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.