CHINA marked a decade of high-speed rail development on August 1, when celebrations were held to mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of the country’s first railway designed for operation at speeds of more than 250km/h.
ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator Italo-NTV has awarded Alstom a €330m contract for five additional Pendolino Evo trains, exercising an option from the original contract signed in October 2015. The contract also includes 30-years maintenance and will bring Italo-NTV’s total Pendolino Evo fleet to 22 trains.
LONDON-based consultancy Expedition Engineering has released its designs for a €10bn, 140km high-speed line which would connect London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports with the current HS1 line and the future HS2 line, bypassing London.
THE board of directors of SNCF Mobility have approved a contract worth €2.7bn with Alstom for the supply of 100 next-generation TGV high-speed trains.
THE Baltic states have signed a third Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant agreement funded by the European Union (EU) for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway infrastructure, including a CEF contribution of up to €110m of the €130m agreement.
TUNNELLING for the western tube of the 8.8km twin-bore Bossler tunnel at the western end of the new Stuttgart - Wendlingen - Ulm high-speed line concluded on June 8, following completion of the eastern tube in November 2016.
A viable market exists for low-fares high-speed train services between Britain and France, according to a study commissioned by Channel Tunnel operator Getlink.
A report from the European Court of Auditors says the €23.7bn of co-funding that the European Union (EU) has provided to support high-speed rail infrastructure investments since 2000 has created only a “patchwork” of national high-speed lines across the European Union, and failed to create a cohesive European high-speed rail network.
BRIGHTLINE, which recently began operating a passenger service between Miami and West Palm Beach, has confirmed that it has submitted an unsolicited proposal to develop a high-speed line between Orlando and Tampa.
THALYS announced on June 19 that it will launch direct services between Brussels and Bordeaux next summer, connecting the Belgian capital with the Atlantic coast in little over four hours.