GERMAN Rail's (DB) rail freight subsidiary, DB Cargo has confirmed plans to withdraw freight services from 215 locations in Germany reducing the total number of locations it serves to around 1300.

ALSTOM has received approval for its Coradia Lint 41 EMUs to operate in Poland. With certification already granted in the Czech Republic, the trains can be operated on cross-border services between these two countries and Germany.

LOCOMOTIVE leasing company Railpool, Germany, has awarded a contract to Siemens for five additional Vectron ac multi-system locomotives, with an option for a further 10 units.

GO-AHEAD Transport Germany has awarded a contract to Stadler for 45 Flirt EMUs to operate on Lots 2 and 3 of the Stuttgart Network 1 concession which Go-Ahead will take over in April 2019.

GERMAN Rail (DB) confirmed following an extraordinary meeting of its supervisory board in Berlin on May 4 that it will proceed with the sale of a minority stake in its international passenger business Arriva and logistics subsidiary DB Schenker, while DB Mobility Logistics (DB ML) will be merged the holding company DB AG.

THE technical supervisory authority in the German state of Hessen has approved a new tram collision avoidance system with automatic emergency braking developed by Bosch Engineering, clearing the way for trials on the tram network in Frankfurt-am-Main.

THE first of six Škoda Transportation type 109E electric locomotives ordered by German Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio in June 2013 for high-speed regional services in Bavaria has begun dynamic testing at the VUZ Velim test track in the Czech Republic.

GERMANY's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) has approved the final section of second east-west S-Bahn tunnel beneath Munich city centre, which will significantly increase capacity on the congested core section of the network.

GERMANY's Altona-Kaltenkirchen-Neumünster Railway (AKN) has received a 10-year direct award contract from the city of Hamburg and state of Schleswig-Holstein for operation of passenger services on its 117km core network.

CENTRAL Saxony Transport Authority (ZVMS) has confirmed it intends to directly award a contract for the operation of the Erzgebirge Diesel Network to incumbent operator DB Regio.