GERMAN Rail (DB), Siemens and the city of Hamburg have signed an agreement to develop a fully automated S-Bahn line in Hamburg by 2021, in time for the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in October 2021.
ALSTOM’s Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell passenger train has been granted approval by the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA) for commercial operation in Germany.
THE German federal government decided on June 27 to budget up to €250,000 for a feasibility study to reactivate the Freiburg - Colmar line, which has been closed since the bridge crossing the River Rhine was destroyed in 1945.
A report from the European Court of Auditors says the €23.7bn of co-funding that the European Union (EU) has provided to support high-speed rail infrastructure investments since 2000 has created only a “patchwork” of national high-speed lines across the European Union, and failed to create a cohesive European high-speed rail network.
GERMAN open-access operator Potsdam Railway Company (EGP) is set to become the debut customer for Siemens’ new Smartron electric locomotive after signing a contract on June 21 to lease three units for delivery next year.
THE German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French Grand Est region have agreed to deepen cross-border cooperation and on June 19 released a joint concept and tender for cross-border regional rail services to start operation in December 2024.
ŠKODA Transportation announced on June 20 that it has won a tender for a contract to supply 80 low-floor LRVs to Rhine Neckar Transport (RNV) for use on tram lines in and around Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg.
A lack of electrification on German cross-border rail routes is making it difficult for rail to compete with heavy goods vehicles (HGV) for a bigger market share of international freight movements through the country, the Berlin-based Pro-Rail Alliance (APS) says.
BOMBARDIER Transportation opened its new final-assembly hall in Bautzen, Germany, on June 15 after investing €30m in the site.
AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Netherlands Railways (NS) are developing plans to reintroduce sleeper trains to Amsterdam, which was severed from the European night train network by the contraction and eventual abandonment of German Rail's (DB) City Night Line services.
