THE transport authorities of the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have awarded DB Regio a 12-year contract to operate the Allgäu diesel network which covers 7.8 million train-km per year.

Desired by operators but often derided by passengers, onboard Wi-Fi is proving a difficult service to master. As demand for data continues to soar and places even greater strain on networks, Kevin Smith assesses what's next for train operators as they look to improve the reliability and availability of their train wireless internet offerings.

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has selected MTR Corporation to become the first operator of the new Crossrail line. The £1.4bn concession will be for eight years with an option to extend it by two years.

GERMAN Rail (DB) marked the completion of a major capacity enhancement project in northern Germany on July 10, when Federal state secretary for the Ministry of Transport Mr Enak Ferlemann and DB board member for infrastructure Dr Volker Kefer inaugurated the third track on the 27km Stelle – Lüneburg section of the Hamburg – Hannover line.

A ceremony was held on July 7 to mark the completion of a €230m five-year project to upgrade Maschen yard near Hamburg, which is one of Europe's largest marshalling yards.

ONE year after steps were taken to speed up Germany's tortuous and costly train certification process, the German Railway Industry Association (VDB) says progress has been made, but the certification of modernised vehicles is still unclear and legislation is needed.

THE CEO of German Rail (DB) Dr Rüdiger Grube has opened what DB claims to be Europe's first CO2-free station at Kerpen-Horrem, between Cologne and Aachen.

A full-size mock-up of the class 490 EMU for the Hamburg S-Bahn network was unveiled on June 16 by Mr Kay Uwe Arnecke, managing director of German Rail (DB) subsidiary S-Bahn Hamburg, minister of transport for the City of Hamburg Mr Andreas Rieckhof, and Mr Dietrich Hartmann, CEO of Hamburg transport authority HVV.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has completed the first phase of upgrading the Berlin – Rostock main line, and from June 15 journey times will be cut from 2h 54min to 1h 59min by ICE.

GERMAN Rail (DB) has awarded Bombardier a €27m contract to supply seven Traxx DE ME multi-engine diesel locomotives for use on DB Autozug SyltShuttle car trains, which link Niebüll with Westerland on the island of Sylt in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.