THE first of four additional Variobahn low-floor LRVs being supplied to Transport for London (TfL) by Stadler Pankow for the Croydon Tramlink network was delivered by road to Croydon over the weekend of May 3-4.

BRITISH franchise operator South West Trains (SWT) has announced that it has awarded a consortium of British rolling stock engineering consultancy ESG and Danish IT and engineering company Cubris a "multi-million pound" contract to deliver the GreenSpeed Driver Advisory system on 249 of its trains.

3D printing is revolutionising manufacturing processes in industries ranging from construction to medical and Formula 1 motor racing. Rail is also benefiting from this Technology. However, as Kevin Smith discovers, the complex process of approving new materials for use in rolling stock components is preventing widespread adoption.

Railway training is following the trend of vocational education training and becoming more international, as Dr Andrew Russell, managing director, Rail Training International, Britain, explains.

THE European Union's TEN-T programme will provide more than €15m to support the deployment of the European Train Control System (ETCS) on rolling stock in three member states: Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg. All the projects will be completed by the end of the year.

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has invited prospective operators to register their interest by mid-May for a new concession to run the London Overground rail network starting on November 13 2016 for a period of 7.5 years with an option to extend it by up to two years.

SIEMENS presented the new class 700 EMU for cross-London Thameslink suburban services to the press at its Krefeld plant in Germany on April 2, confirming that the first sets will be delivered to the new depot at Three Bridges in August in readiness for the start of mainline testing.

MOST of Scotland's passenger services are in the hands of new operators with the transfer of the Scotrail franchise from First to Abellio and the launch of the new Caledonian Sleeper franchise.

NATIONAL Express Group has awarded Bombardier a 10-year contract to provide maintenance services and spare parts for the fleet of Bombardier class 357 Electrostar EMUs used for the Essex Thameside franchise. The contract is worth £143m.

BRITAIN's infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) has awarded a contract to Jacobs Engineering Group, United States, for surveying work and design for a new western rail link to London's Heathrow Airport.