GERMANY's railfreight industry has suffered a disappointing start to 2015, according to figures released by Germany's federal statistics agency Destatis on June 3, which show the largest decline in first quarter traffic since the height of the financial crisis.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has decided to terminate the lease on the fleet of 13 class 605 ICE-TD inter-city DMUs used by Danish State Railways (DSB) on Eurocity services from Hamburg to Copenhagen and Aarhus.

GERMAN Rail (DB) says it is on schedule to begin construction on a new depot for ICE high-speed trains at Nippes northwest of Cologne later this year after receiving final planning consent for the €220m project.

GERMAN federal minister for transport and digital infrastructure Mr Alexander Dobrindt attended a groundbreaking ceremony in the Bavarian town of Freilassing on May 11 to officially launch construction of a third track on the line to Salzburg.

THE board of Spanish operator Renfe this week approved its plan to select an industrial partner for its subsidiary Renfe Freight. The Spanish train operator wants to transform its freight unit into a logistic operator in an effort to curb losses which in 2014 totalled €54m, and to increase rail's modal share, which is currently less than 5%.

APPROVAL inspections of German Rail's (DB) next generation ICx long-distance train are being carried out by DB Systemtechnik on behalf of manufacturer Siemens.

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.

THE French Railway Safety Board (EPSF) granted a supplementary authorisation to place in service (SAPS) on March 31 for the Siemens Velaro D multi-system high-speed train, enabling the operation of German Rail's (DB) class 407 fleet on the French network.

GERMAN Rail (DB) recorded a 5.7% reduction in Ebit to €2.1bn in 2014 despite a 1.5% increase in total revenue to €39.7bn.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has unveiled plans to significantly enhance its long-distance services in Germany in a bid to attract 50 million more passengers annually by 2030.