SLOVENIA: The 49 km Grosuplje – Kočevje line reopened to freight traffic on April 12, services having ceased in 2009. Work to eliminate 51 level crossings and install barriers and lights at 30 others is scheduled for completion in 2020, when passenger services withdrawn in 1967-70 are to be reintroduced. The

GERMANY: The Land of Schleswig-Holstein has awarded sole bidder DB Regio the Elektronetz Ost passenger operating contract. Running from December 2022 to December 2035, the contract covers services RB86 Lübeck – Travemünde, RE8/80 Lübeck Hbf – Hamburg Hbf and RB85 Lübeck Hbf – Puttgarden, a total of 175 route-km. There will

GERMANY: Transdev-owned incumbent NordWestBahn has been confirmed as the winner of the next contract to operate Regio-S-Bahn Bremen/Niedersachsen passenger services, following an international tender called by the two Länder. The contract runs from December 2021 until December 2036. It covers routes: RS1: Bremen-Farge – Bremen Hbf – Verden/Aller; RS2: Bremerhaven-Lehe –

The North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG) is searching for relatives of Sir Vincent Raven to join the railway’s celebrations for Q6 63395 locomotive centenary year. Sir Vincent Raven. Credit Richard de Sadeleer. Sir Vincent Raven was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the North

MALAYSIA: Construction of the East Coast Rail Link to open up the country’s eastern seaboard is set to resume next month, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced on April 15. Contracts had been awarded in 2017 for China Communications Construction Corp to develop the 530 km ECRL linking Port Klang on the west

THE decision by the DfT to reject three franchise bids from Stagecoach Group on the grounds that its proposals were ‘non-compliant’ may have triggered a legal battle.Stagecoach was told that its attempts to reduce the risks it would face over staff pensions were unacceptable, and its bids for East Midlands,

AFRICA: Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority and Zambia Railways Ltd expect to haul 30 000 tonnes/month of fuel from Dar es Salaam to Lusaka as a result of Tanzania’s implementation on March 1 of the East African Community Vehicle Load Control Act, which reduces the maximum weight which can be transported by

SWITZERLAND: Intermodal freight operator Hupac is to automate its route planning and traffic management processes using sensor data and analytics provided by ETH Zürich spin-off company Nexiot. Hupac has previously equipped wagons with Nexiot sensors which provide information on their location, impact events, border crossings and mileage every 5 min. Nexiot’s

SWITZERLAND: Trading of Stadler Rail shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange began on April 12. The offer price for the initial public offering was set at SFr38 per share, in the upper half of the announced price range of SFr33 to SFr41. This values the base offer at SFr1·33bn and gives

AUSTRALIA: The Queensland government’s Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has selected preferred bidders for the three main works packages to build and equip Brisbane’s A$5·4bn cross-city rail link. Enabling works are already underway for the 10·2 km line linking Bowen Hills with Dutton Park, and major construction is expected to get underway