GERMAN Rail (DB) passenger numbers showed a small decline in 2015 according to figures released this week by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

DB Cargo has launched a new subsidiary in the Czech Republic called DB Cargo Czechia. It is the 16th state in which the German freight operator has launched an independent operation.

BADEN-Württemberg minister of transport and infrastructure Mr Winfried Hermann, DB Regio CEO Dr Jörg Sandvoss and DB Regio Baden-Württemberg CEO Mr Andreas Moschinski-Wald, signed a concession agreement in Stuttgart on February 11 for the operation of the so-called Gäu-Murr group of regional services (Baden-Württemberg Network 3b).

AT the end of December German Rail (DB) announced the outcome of months of strategic review, assisted by consulting firm McKinsey, confirming a programme of measures to tackle the company's worsening financial performance.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has announced delays to the introduction of further new IC2 double-deck trains being supplied by Bombardier following problems with the vehicles swaying from side-to-side at speed on some lines on which they have already been deployed.

GERMAN Rail (DB) is to spend €5.5bn this year on modernising its existing network which is around €200m more than in 2015.

BAVARIAN Railway Company (BEG) unveiled a three-stage long-term plan for the operation of the 434km Munich S-Bahn network on February 3, confirming DB Regio subsidiary S-Bahn Munich will continue to run the system until at least the end of the decade.

THE government of the Australian Capital Territory has announced that the Canberra Metro consortium has been chosen as the preferred bidder for a PPP contract to construct and operate the initial 12km phase of Canberra's light rail network from Gungahlin to the city centre.

The Gotthard base tunnel is due to be handed over by the construction company to the operator on June 1 in readiness for the start of operations in December. Anitra Green looks at some of the issues involved with Renzo Simoni of AlpTransit and Peter Jedelhauser of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).

ONE year on from the merger of French National Railways (SNCF) and infrastructure owner French Rail Network (RFF) into a single organisation with SNCF Mobility as the operator and SNCF Network the infrastructure manager, SNCF president Mr Guillaume Pepy says work is progressing to transform SNCF into an international transport group.