BRENNER Basistunnel (BBT), which is responsible for building the 64km €8.8bn tunnel under the Brenner pass between Italy and Austria, has selected a consortium led by Astaldi to build the Italian section at a cost of around €1bn.

AUSTRIAN local railway operator Stern & Hafferl (StH) launched its new fleet of metre-gauge Vossloh Tramlink V3 LRVs in a ceremony at the company's newly-commissioned Vorchdorf depot on March 12.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) is planning to order up to 300 more EMUs in addition to its existing framework contract for 200 Siemens Desiro ML sets.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has built a full-size mock-up of an interior concept for its next generation of couchette coaches, which will be used to evaluate passenger reaction to the proposed interior.

THE government of the Austrian province of Styria has given its backing to a €20m project to restore the 2.8km cross-border link between Bad Radkersburg and Gorna Radgona after more than 70 years.

THREE years after it was adopted by the European Commission (EC), the Fourth Railway Package has reached a key phase in its gestation, and is likely to become law in 2016, bringing significant structural changes to the industry.

THREE months ahead of schedule, the first Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) class 4744 Cityjet EMUs for the southern province of Styria entered passenger service on January 11.

INNSBRUCK Transport (IVB) has awarded Bombardier a contract to supply 20 Flexity 2 low-floor LRVs as part of the expansion of the Austrian city's metre-gauge tram network.

GERMANY's largest long-distance bus operator MeinFernbus-Flixbus has revealed plans to launch open-access passenger rail operations, although not initially in its domestic market.

THE final phase of Vienna's new Main Station became operational on December 13, bringing a major-shake up of long-distance services into the Austrian capital.