NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) and Finmeccanica, the parent company of Italian rolling stock manufacturer AnsaldoBreda, have reached a settlement on the future of the V250 Fyra high-speed trains and the cancellation of the contract by NS.

THE recently-appointed Chairman of HS2 Ltd, the company responsible for developing a Y-shaped high-speed network linking London with central and northern England, has urged the government to bring forward the construction of the second phase of the project.

ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV has launched a cost cutting programme due to the effects of Italy's continuing poor economic performance and strong competition from incumbent high-speed operator Trenitalia.

SWEDISH infrastructure manager Trafikverket published a new report on February 28 outlining potential options for a high-speed line linking Stockholm with Gothenburg and Malmö.

SPANISH infrastructure manager Adif last week approved the tendering of a contract to design, install and maintain signaling and telecommunications equipment on the Madrid-Galicia high-speed rail line, with a total value of €640.8m.

TAIWAN High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) has awarded a Yen 2.8bn ($US 27.5m) turnkey contract to Toshiba, Japan, for installation of electrical and mechanical (E&M) systems at three new stations.

SPAIN's Ministry of Transport this week confirmed a 20% increase in ridership on Renfe's AVE high-speed services during 2013, which saw passenger numbers swell to 14.5 million passengers, fuelled by the introduction of a flexible fares fare policy and the opening of two new high-speed lines during the fiscal year.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has admitted its plans to launch ICE high-speed services from London to Cologne and Frankfurt are now seriously delayed, and the service is unlikely to be launched before the end of the decade.

INTERNATIONAL high-speed operator Thalys saw revenues and ridership climb on its services from Paris to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in 2013 as the withdrawal of Fyra services brought an unexpected increase in traffic between Brussels and Amsterdam.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) managed to achieve a 0.5% increase in turnover to €32.2bn and a 2% rise in Ebitda to €2.8bn in 2013 despite a 1.8% drop in revenue from its Geodis freight business and a 1.4% decline in income from TGV services.