GERMAN open-access passenger operator, Hamburg-Köln-Express (HKX), has announced that it will cease operating to Frankfurt and cut back its Hamburg - Cologne service to operate only four days per week from September 1.

THE first of two Alstom H3 hybrid shunting locomotives for Metrans, the open-access rail freight subsidiary of Hamburg Ports and Logistics (HHLA), has entered service in the Port of Hamburg.

ROSEHILL RAIL, a British manufacturer of modular rubber railway crossing systems, announced on July 19 that its crossing systems have been approved for operation by the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA).

HAMBURG Ports and Logistics (HHLA) has completed a project to expand Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) in Hamburg, increasing capacity from 140,000 to 930,000 TEU per year.

GERMANY's per capita investment in rail infrastructure ranks poorly alongside that of other major European economies, according to a study published on July 12 by German transport consultancy SCI Verkehr and Allianz pro Schiene, a coalition of 22 non-profit organisations and over 120 companies from across the German rail industry.

BADEN-Württemberg transport minister Mr Winfried Hermann signed three contracts with Abellio and Go-Ahead on July 11 for the operation of the Stuttgart Network group of regional services from June 2019.

SOUTH Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Rail Authority (ZSPNV-Süd) and the French region of Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardennes (Grand Est) have reached an agreement with DB Regio and French National Railways (SNCF) to launch a new France-Germany regional service next year.

GERMANY's federal council laid the legislative foundations to strengthen urban and regional rail services at its sitting on July 8. This follows the approval of a legislative package by the Bundestag on July 7.

RHINE-Ruhr Transport Authority (VRR) announced on July 7 that it has selected Abellio and Keolis for two contracts to operate Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and regional services from December 2019.

BERLIN Transport (BVG) has exercised an option worth around €140m with Stadler Pankow for 27 additional type IK small-profileU-Bahn trains, taking the total number of trains on order to 38.