THE British Treasury has sold the government's 40% stake high-speed train operator Eurostar for £585.1m to Patina Rail, a Canadian-British consortium of fund managers. Eurostar has also agreed to redeem the government's £172m preference share once the sale has been finalised which will increase the total value of the sale to £757.1m.

BELGIAN federal minister for mobility Mrs Jacqueline Galant told the country's parliament on January 23 that only one bidder, a consortium of Alstom and Bombardier, is in the running for a framework contract to supply a fleet of inter-city double-deck EMUs to Belgian National Railways (SNCB).

BELGIUM's Mobility and Transport Federal Public Services (FPS) has awarded Mott MacDonald a contract to independently review the €2bn national rollout of ETCS currently being implemented by infrastructure manager Infrabel.

NEW train schedules were launched across Europe on December 14, and according to the December issue of the European Rail Timetable, the improvements outnumber the number of services being withdrawn.

THALYS, which operates high-speed services between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne and Essen, will become an independent company on March 31 2015 for the first time since it was set up as a purely commercial entity in 1996.

BELGIUM's infrastructure manager Infrabel has awarded a joint venture of Siemens and Cofely Fabricom, Belgium, a €510m contract to rollout ETCS Level 2 on 36% of the Belgian network.

THE British government has announced plans to sell its 40% stake in cross-Channel high-speed operator Eurostar to help reduce the national debt.

The British Treasury has set a deadline of October 31 for companies to prequalify to purchase the shares and it hopes to select investors during the first quarter of 2015. UBS is advising on the sale.

BELGIAN National Railways (SNCB) has awarded Alstom a contract worth around €70m to supply and maintain ETCS Level 2 onboard equipment for five fleets of multiple units totalling 449 trains.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) could be poised to acquire a stake in Thalys, the operator of high-speed services between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, and Essen, according to reports in the Dutch media.

BELGIAN National Railways (SNCB) has agreed a €2.5m settlement with AnsaldoBreda over its cancelled contract for three V250 high-speed trains, ending legal proceedings against the Italian manufacturer over the much-maligned rolling stock for the now abandoned Fyra service.