MR Patrick Jeantet, the newly-appointed CEO of French infrastructure manager SNCF Network, visited British Steel's Hayange rail mill in northeast France on June 14 to sign a contract for the supply of 120,000 tonnes of rail.

THE design and internal layout for the fleet of MP14 rubber-tyred metro trains which Alstom is building for Paris Transport Authority (RATP) was unveiled at Alstom's Paris headquarters by the company's chairman and CEO Mr Henri Poupart-Lafarge.

FRANCE's Council of Ministers has appointed Mr Patrick Jeantet as deputy chairman of French National Railways (SNCF) and CEO of SNCF Network, succeeding Mr Jacques Rapoport, who resigned in February.

THE French Ministry of the Environment, Energy, and the Sea confirmed on May 25 that the Council of State of has approved a draft decree granting public utility status for the €8.3bn Grand Southwestern Railway Project (GPSO), which will extend TGV Sud-Europ Atlantique from Bordeaux to Toulouse with a branch to Dax.

INTERNATIONAL passenger services between Spain and France will be "guaranteed" despite the critical financial situation of the high-speed line's concessionaire, according to Spain's minister of development and public works, Mrs Ana Pastor.

EUROSTAR confirmed at the launch of its Community and Environment Programme in London on April 25 that it intends to launch London - Amsterdam services at the end of next year, and is also looking to take advantage of the opening of new high-speed lines in France to expand its network.

THE prime minister of France Mr Manuel Valls signed an agreement with the president of Normandy Mr Hervé Morin on April 25 transferring control of five loss-making inter-city services to the regional government.

A 1.8km southern extension of Strasbourg light rail Line A from Lixenbuhl to Illkirch-Graffenstaden was inaugurated on April 23.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) rail freight subsidiary Fret SNCF celebrated the launch of a new China - France container service on April 21, when the first train from Wuhan arrived at the Saint-Priest terminal in Venissieux south of Lyon.

THE declaration of public utility to build a high-speed line from Poitiers to Limoges, which was granted in January 2015, has been annulled by France's State Council. This is the first time a French high-speed project has suffered such a fate.