AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) CEO Mr Christian Kern has announced that ÖBB intends to exercise the final option in its contract with Siemens for Railjet push-pull long-distance trains.

Several projects are in the pipeline or already underway to upgrade rail links in the regional triangle between Germany, Austria and Switzerland, not to mention Liechtenstein a little further south. Anitra Green takes a look at the current state of play.

VIENNESE public transport operator Wiener Linien has awarded Siemens a contract worth more than €40m to resignal the 17km U-Bahn Line 4 from Hütteldorf to Heiligenstadt.

CZECH Railways (ČD) launched trial passenger operation of its new fleet of Siemens Railjet long-distance trains on May 6, when the first set entered service on the international Prague – Vienna – Graz route.

AS part of the Austrian Space Application Programme (ASAP), Austria's Research Promotion Agency (FFG) has appointed a consortium led by Vienna-based Berner & Mattner Systemtechnik to develop satellite positioning technology for rail vehicles as part of the Ditpos Rail project.

AUSTRIAN open-access long-distance operator Westbahn announced on May 13 that it has pulled out of the European Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), accusing the association of blocking liberalisation and market opening.

THE finances of Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) continued to improve last year according to the railway's newly-published annual results, which show a continuation of the turnaround achieved in 2012.

The availability of advanced telemetry looks set to transform operators' understanding of how energy is used on rail vehicles and how power consumption can be optimised.

THE European Commission (EC) has initiated infraction proceedings against Italy and Austria for failing to implement correctly, fully, and on time European Union (EU) directives relating to their railways.

AN INTERNATIONAL group set up to promote the development of an S-Bahn network encircling Lake Constance has called on the governments of Switzerland, Austria, and Germany to invest in track-doubling and electrification in order to make the project a reality.