EUROSTAR operated its inaugural service between London, Rotterdam and Amsterdam on February 20, an event which outgoing CEO Mr Nicolas Petrovic described as historic for the international high-speed operator as it finally expanded east beyond its core London - Paris/Brussels network.
ESTONIA’s Ministry of Public Administration approved the spatial plan for the Rail Baltica high-speed line in Estonia on February 14 thereby completing the final route and preliminary design of the entire railway in the three Baltic states.
EUROSTAR will launch its first direct London - Amsterdam passenger service on April 4, initially offering two trains per day in one direction only.
AN investigation is underway after an Amtrak Acela Express train en route from Washington DC to New York split in two while running at a reported 200km/h as it travelled along the Northeast Corridor in Maryland at about 06.30 on February 6.
SPAIN’s minister of public works Mr Iñigo de la Serna announced in Barcelona on February 6 that Renfe is planning to launch a new low-fares high-speed service between Barcelona and Madrid next year.
NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) says it is in talks with Eurostar regarding the introduction of a third London - Amsterdam service in 2019, potentially offering a significant improvement in journey times for London-bound passengers.
SPAIN’s infrastructure manager Adif is working on a project to complete the track doubling of the entire 165km Valladolid - Palencia - León high-speed line and install ERTMS Level 2 to enable the maximum speed to be increased from 200km/h to 300km/h.
UKRAINE’s transport minister Mr Volodymyr Omelyan and Mr Ricardo Maria Monti, president of Italian State Railways (FS) engineering subsidiary Italferr met in Kiev on January 30 to discuss the preparation of technical and economic studies for high-speed rail on the Odessa - Kiev - Lviv corridor.
TEXAS Central, which is planning to build a privately-funded 386km 320km/h railway linking Dallas with Houston, has selected the site for its station in Dallas and says it has reached an agreement with developer Jack Matthews, which owns the site.
SPAIN’s Ministry of Development has started public consultation for the construction of two new high-speed lines to connect with the 180.5km Basque Y network currently under construction linking Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastián and the French border.