ESER, a group of Turkish companies, has handed back the 243km Port Harcourt – Enugu line to Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) following the completion of a project to upgrade the southern section of the main line to Kaduna.
PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has announced further drastic cuts to its mainline train timetable even as it pushes ahead with a €250m deal to buy 70 new locomotives from Vossloh.
TRACK laying has started on Israel's 60km Valley Line linking Haifa with Sheikh Hussain bridge over the River Jordan where it will eventually be connected to the Jordanian rail network.
THE provincial council of the Italian autonomous region of South Tyrol on December 16 approved the electrification of the Merano - Malles line, entrusting planning and project management to Strutture Trasporto Alto Adige and Alto Adige Finance under a €56m contract.
TRENITALIA has signed two contracts with AnsaldoBreda for rolling stock maintenance services.
DUTCH secretary of state for infrastructure Mrs Wilma Mansveld signed 10-year concession agreements on December 15 with Netherlands Railways (NS) for the operation of the so-called core network and with ProRail for the management of the country's mainline rail infrastructure.
REGIONAL rail links between Austria and Italy were stepped up significantly on December 14 with the launch of hourly services on the Fortezza - San Candido – Lienz corridor as part of the Euregio initiative between the Austrian province of Tyrol and the Italian autonomous region of South Tyrol.
THE Bavarian Railway Authority (BEG) has signed a direct award contract with DB Regio subsidiary Südostbayernbahn for the operation of regional services on the so-called Mühldorf Star network, which encompasses non-electrified lines in southeastern Bavaria from December 2015.
NEW train schedules were launched across Europe on December 14, and according to the December issue of the European Rail Timetable, the improvements outnumber the number of services being withdrawn.
POLISH long-distance operator PKP Intercity launched its new EIC Premium services on December 14, marking the entry into passenger service of its Alstom ED250 Pendolino EMUs.