Quintus Vosman

KING Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands formally inaugurated the rebuilt Rotterdam Central station on March 13.

DUTCH railfreight operator Herik Rail Cargo launched its first intermodal service from the port of Amsterdam to the Segrate terminal near Milan on March 3.

THE council of the Dutch city of Maastricht granted planning approval on February 18 for the city centre section of the cross-border regional light rail line to Hasselt, Belgium, allowing tendering to begin for construction of the Dutch part of the route.

BAVARIAN Railway Authority (BEG) has published a tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union for a contract to operate the Nuremberg Diesel Network regional concession for 12 years from December 2018.

INTERNATIONAL high-speed operator Thalys saw revenues and ridership climb on its services from Paris to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in 2013 as the withdrawal of Fyra services brought an unexpected increase in traffic between Brussels and Amsterdam.

COLOGNE Transport Authority (KVB) and Düsseldorf's Rheinbahn have issued a joint invitation to tender for a contract to supply 66 high-floor LRVs with an option for 12 additional vehicles.

RHINE-RUHR Transport Authority (VRR) has invited bids by March 11 for three concessions for the five-line Rhine-Ruhr Express (RXX) network in Germany's Ruhr area.

APPENZELL Railways (AB), Switzerland, has awarded Stadler a contract worth around SFr 60m ($US 66m) to supply seven Tango low-floor LRVs.

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).

THE German state of Saxony-Anhalt has published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) for the direct award of a contract to operate Halle – Nuremberg regional services to German Rail (DB) subsidiary DB Regio Nordostbayern.