Punctuality was at 92.55%, up 21.5 points, contributing to a 17% increase in passenger satisfaction to 87%.

The operator invested Dirham 2.2bn in 2019, which included purchasing new generation locomotives and the construction of new maintenance facilities.

Norway: National operator Bane Nor, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, and state-owned developer Statsbygg, have reached an agreement with the Entrepreneurs' Association Construction and Construction (EBA) and Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises (NHO) to take the majority of the contractual risk posed to public construction projects by the coronavirus pandemic.

Germany: Knorr-Bremse reported a -7.3% reduction in revenue for the first quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, to €1.6bn. The order intake for Q1 2020 was down -16.1%, from €1.8bn in 2019 to €1.5bn in 2020.

Knorr-Bremse’s Ebitda margin was 17.8%, down slightly from 19% in Q1 2019.

“In the European and North American markets we expect the Covid-19 pandemic to have the greatest impact in the second quarter of 2020, while our Asian markets - particularly China - have already recovered,” says Knorr-Bremse CEO, Mr Bernd Eulitz. “Overall, we see 2020 as an opportunity to demonstrate the robustness of our business model with solid figures.”

Switzerland: The boards of directors of the Frauenfeld-Wil Railway (FWB) and the Appenzeller Railway (AB) have begun examining the benefits of a potential merger in more detail, with the aim of reaching a decision by the end of the year.

If approved, the boards will present the merger at the railways’ AGMs in June 2021.

Russia: Transmashholding (TMH) has placed Roubles 10bn ($US 144m) worth of five year bonds on the Moscow Stock Exchange. The bonds have a final rate of 6.10%.

TMH intends to use the funds to refinance part of its current loan obligations, which will evenly distribute the company’s debt and reduce the average cost of borrowing.

The company has a BB rating with a stable outlook from international agency Fitch, and an ruAA rating, with a stable outlook from national agency Expert RA.

Germany: Wagon leasing and logistics company VTG has successfully completed the refinancing of its capital structure, which it says creates a solid long-term basis for further investments. The €2.9bn refinancing includes committed credit lines to finance VTG's further investment plans.

As part of the refinancing, Standard & Poor’s gave VTG an investment grade rating of BBB with a stable outlook.

Spain: Infrastructure manager Adif suffered a 94% drop in Ebitda to €1.3m in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, which contributed to a 34% reduction in Ebitda for the year to date.

The joint turnover of Adif and Adif AV in March was €88.59m, down 17.54% on March 2019. The biggest drop was from inter-urban and regional services, which fell 23.21% and 26.97%, respectively.  The result for March was a loss of €46.39m, up from the loss of €23.37m in March 2019.

Turnover for Adif and Adif AV in Q1 2020 was €298.6m, down 4% on Q1 2019, with a loss of €90.6m, a 40% increase on the same period last year.

Italy: The European Commission (EC) has approved Italian aid measures to encourage a modal shift for freight from road to rail in the port of Genoa.

The road and rail infrastructure to and from the port was severely impacted by the collapse of the Morandi bridge in August 2018. The measures, which have an overall budget of €9m and will run until end 2020, aim to maintain or increase rail’s share of freight carried to and from the port.

Denmark: National operator DSB lost DKr 100m ($US 14.5m) a week from measures introduced to prevent spread of Covid-19 at the end of March. However, the need to continue operations limited the operator’s ability to reduce costs.

DSB says it is difficult to predict the unprecedented situation, and estimates a deficit of at least DKr 100bn for 2020. DSB and the ministry of transport and housing have agreed to update the government’s position on DSB’s finances by the end of the year.

Turkey: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and French lender Société Générale will fund a 7.2km extension to the metro network in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city.

Société Générale is providing €25m as a B-loan under the EBRD’s A/B syndication structure, supplementing the €80m loan provided by the EBRD in 2018 for the construction of the line along Izmir’s east-west corridor.

The Fahrettin Altay - Narlidere - Kaymakamlik line is expected to open in 2022 and will improve the connection between a university campus, a hospital and retail areas.