MR Giuseppe Sciarrone, CEO of Italian open-access high-speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), issued his resignation on October 2. The company's steering committee has appointed its president Mr Antonello Perricone as his replacement.

THE CEO of Italian State Railways (FS) Mr Mauro Moretti officiated at a ceremony at Milan Central station yesterday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pendolino tilting trains in Italy.

ANSALDOBREDA has filed a lawsuit in a court in Utrecht, Netherlands, against NS Financial Services and Netherlands Railways (NS) for failing to fulfil their obligations under the contract for the 16 V250 high-speed trains which AnsaldoBreda supplied for the now-aborted Amsterdam - Brussels Fyra service.

THE first of seven Velaro high-speed trains ordered by Turkish State Railways (TCDD) from Siemens is currently en route to Turkey.

EUROSTAR has reached agreement with Netherlands Railways (NS) to launch a service between London and Amsterdam starting in December 2016 as part of a package of measures announced by the Dutch cabinet on September 27 following the withdrawal of the V250 Fyra trains.

THE battle between the Dutch and Belgian operators and the Italian supplier of the V250 electric trains for the aborted Amsterdam – Brussels Fyra service is intensifying.

SIR David Higgins, CEO of Network Rail, says he wants to look at how he can accelerate the construction of the £50bn project to build a high-speed network linking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds when he takes over as chairman of HS2 in January.

SAUDI Railways Organisation (SRO) has awarded a contract to DB International to supervise infrastructure design work, rolling stock production, and project management for the 450km Mecca – Jeddah – Medina high-speed line.

CENTRAL Japan Railway (JR Central) published the Preliminary Environment Assessment on September 18 for the 286km maglev line from Tokyo to Nagoya.

CALIFORNIA High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) officials have admitted that construction work on the first phase of the state's planned high-speed rail network will not begin this autumn as previously envisaged.