AUSTRIAN railfreight continued to suffer the effects of the prolonged economic downturn last year according to annual figures released by Austria's rail regulator Schienen-Control, which also show a strong increase in passenger traffic.

JUST two years after launching its Vienna – Linz – Salzburg services, Austrian open-access operator Westbahn reached break-even last year according to the company's annual results, which were revealed on June 26.

THE municipal government of The Hague and Arriva have abandoned plans to launch an open-access cross-border service linking the Dutch city with Brussels, which was due to begin operating in December 2015.

AUSTRIAN open-access long-distance operator Westbahn announced on May 13 that it has pulled out of the European Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), accusing the association of blocking liberalisation and market opening.

WITH less than a year to go before the launch of its MTR Express inter-city services, MTR Corporation subsidiary MTR Nordic submitted a track access application to Swedish infrastructure manager Trafikverket on April 15 for train paths on the Stockholm – Gothenburg line.

HKX is the only private open-access long-distance operator in Germany. David Briginshaw reports on its progress since services were launched on the Hamburg - Cologne corridor in July 2012.

CZECH open-access long-distance passenger operator RegioJet is set to expand its transport capacity considerably following the acquisiton of 45 coaches from Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).

ARRIVA's Czech rail subsidiary Arriva Vlaky withdrew its open-access suburban service between Prague Masarykovo and Kralupy nad Vltavou on December 13, just three months after the start of operations.

THE European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee (Tran) voted on December 17 to adopt a series of amendments on the six legislative proposals forming the Fourth Railway Package.