SWITZERLAND's South Eastern Railway (SOB) has published an international tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for a contract to supply new trains for the hourly Voralpen Express service, which links Lucerne with Arth Goldau, St Gallen, and Romanshorn.

A GROUP of independent engineers and transport experts in Switzerland has carried out a study in the possibility of setting up a car shuttle service on the Gotthard route as an alternative to building a second road tunnel.

THE Swiss Federal Transport Office and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) have agreed a budget of SFr 7.6bn ($US 7.7bn) to fund rail infrastructure for the 2017-2020 period which is 15% more than the current 2013-2016 agreement.

BERN Solothurn Regional Transport (RBS), which operates a 54km metre-gauge network of suburban lines radiating from the Swiss capital Bern, has invited bids for a fleet of 14 EMUs for S-Bahn Line 7.

SWITZERLAND's second-largest railway company BLS is to issue a public tender for a contract to lengthen the double-track section of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel.

STADLER has built a full-size wooden mock-up of the 250km/h EMUs ordered by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) for long-distance services on the Gotthard route, providing valuable input for the interior design of the train at an early stage of development.

SWISS passenger operator BLS has initiated a three-year, SFr 30.7m ($US 32.6m) programme to upgrade 36 three and four car Nina EMUs, which will extend the service life of the trains for a further 15-20 years.

THE French region of Rhône-Alpes has placed a €160m order with Alstom for 17 multi-system Régiolis EMUs, which will be used on the cross-border Leman Express (formerly Franco-Valdo-Genevois RER) network around Geneva.