DB SCHENKER and Zhengzhou International Land Port Development and Construction Company launched a new direct Germany – China freight service on September 1, when the first train was flagged off from the Billwerder terminal in Hamburg by Dr Karl-Friedrich Rausch, DB management board officer for logistics and the governor of Hunan province Mr Xie Fuzhan.

FOLLOWING a European tender, Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG) has awarded DB Regio a contract to operate the Lower Saxony Diesel network for 15 years from December.

GERMAN Rail (DB), which is in the midst of a labour dispute with the GDL union over a 5% pay increase for its 37,000 traincrew, has accused private rail operators of wage dumping, an allegation that has been strongly refuted by Veolia, Germany's largest bus and rail operator.

GERMAN Rail (DB) and French National Railways (SNCF) marked a milestone for international high-speed services between Germany and France on August 29, when they carried their 10 millionth passenger on their ICE and TGV services from Stuttgart and Frankfurt to Paris.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has confirmed that catenary will be energised on the Erfurt – Leipzig/Halle high-speed line (VDE8) on August 25 in readiness for the start of test operation on the 123km route at the end of this month or early next month.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) could be poised to acquire a stake in Thalys, the operator of high-speed services between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, and Essen, according to reports in the Dutch media.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has awarded a €312m contract to a joint venture of Ed Züblin and Hochtief to construct the 4270m Rastatt tunnel as part of the project to upgrade the Karlsruhe – Basle corridor for 250km/h operation.

GERMAN Rail (DB) long-distance subsidiary DB Fernverkehr is planning to further restructure its night train and Autozug motor rail services, which have collectively lost more than €20m annually in recent years.

Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Authority (VBB) has published a pre-information notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for the direct award of an interim contract to operate the ring line of the Berlin S-Bahn to DB Regio subsidiary S-Bahn Berlin.

GERMAN Rail (DB) published its financial results for the first half of 2014 on July 24, revealing that ridership on its trains in Germany increased by 10 million year-on-year to just over 1 billion passengers.