SOUTHEASTERN Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Septa) will begin provisional revenue service operations with Positive Train Control (PTC) from next week after receiving authorisation from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

EGYPTIAN National Railways (ENR) has awarded a contract to Siemens to resignal the main line from Benha, on the Cairo - Alexandria main line, via Zagazig to Port Said, and line from Zagazig to Abu Kebir, in the northeast of the country.

THE first Siemens USA Charger passenger locomotive was revealed during a visit by US Federal Railroad Administrator Mrs Sarah Feinberg to the company's Sacramento plant on March 25.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has directly awarded Siemens and Bombardier a contract to upgrade its fleet of 131 Sprinter Light Train (SLT) EMUs, which were originally supplied by the two manufacturers in 2007-2012, to comply with the Technical Specification for Interoperability for Persons With Reduced Mobility (PRM-TSI).

SIEMENS and Huawei say they have moved a step closer towards the commercial deployment of CBTC over LTE after completing interoperability testing of a jointly-developed solution in France.

SWISS railfreight operator BLS Cargo says it expects to take delivery of the first of 15 Vectron multi-system electric locomotives from Siemens within the next few months.

METROPOLITAN EAD, which operates the two-line metro in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, has awarded Siemens and Newag, Poland, a €140m contract to supply trains and signalling for the first phase of the new Line 3, which is due to open in 2019.

Israel's network expansion programme and technological upgrades are set to revolutionise rail transport in the country in the next four to five years. Kevin Smith visits facilities in Haifa and Lod to see how the railway is preparing for the transition.

THE first of 80 Sr3 Vectron electric locomotives for Finnish national train operator VR Group was delivered to the VUZ test track at Velim in the Czech Republic on February 20 for dynamic testing.

HEATHROW Express, the operator of direct services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport, has withdrawn its entire fleet of 14 four and five car class 332 EMUs after a structural defect was found on the underside of several cars during routine inspections earlier this week.