AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has built a full-size mock-up of an interior concept for its next generation of couchette coaches, which will be used to evaluate passenger reaction to the proposed interior.

ONE year on from the merger of French National Railways (SNCF) and infrastructure owner French Rail Network (RFF) into a single organisation with SNCF Mobility as the operator and SNCF Network the infrastructure manager, SNCF president Mr Guillaume Pepy says work is progressing to transform SNCF into an international transport group.

THREE months ahead of schedule, the first Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) class 4744 Cityjet EMUs for the southern province of Styria entered passenger service on January 11.

THE final phase of Vienna's new Main Station became operational on December 13, bringing a major-shake up of long-distance services into the Austrian capital.

SIEMENS Mobility Austria CEO Mr Arnulf Wolfram officially handed over the first of 101 Cityjet EMUs for Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to the company's head of local and regional transport Mr Klaus Garstenauer and project manager Mr Thomas Grasl in a ceremony at Vienna Main Station on December 4.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has signed a contract with the European Investment Bank (EIB) worth €1.8bn to finance projects included in its plans to modernise the Southern Route between Vienna and Graz by 2026.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has signed a 10-year framework agreement with Nomad Digital to provide passenger information solutions for the majority of its fleet of trains and Postbuses.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has launched an international tender for a contract to supply up to 200 electric freight locomotives.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) railfreight subsidiary Rail Cargo Austria (RCA) announced on September 23 that it has acquired German railfreight operator EBM Cargo as part of its strategy to expand its activities in Germany and the Benelux countries.

AUSTRIAN open-access operator Westbahn has announced it will introduce additional Friday, Saturday and Sunday peak services between Vienna and Linz from October 2 to accommodate rising demand.