SPAIN’s infrastructure manager Adif expected to receive bids on February 19 for a €34.3m contract to electrify the final Salamanca - Fuentes de Oñoro section of the main line which connects Medina del Campo with the Portuguese border.

Henrik Hololei, director general at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move), talks to Kevin Smith.

THE European Commission’s objective of completing the rollout of ERTMS across its nine Core Network Corridors (CNCs) by 2030 could be in jeopardy because of the patchy nature of deployment and the reluctance of infrastructure managers and operators to invest in the technology, according to a report published on October 3 by the European Court of Auditors.

THE European Commission (EC) is inviting transport infrastructure investment proposals which combine €1bn of grants through the Connecting Europe Fund (CEF) with other sources including the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and public and private finance.

BULGARIA’s Transport Ministry announced on November 7 that it has launched a project for the construction of a 23km double-track railway connecting its capital Sofia with the town of Ellin Pelin.

Funding and soft loans from European Union facilities and affiliated organisations promise to deliver long-awaited Eastern European rail infrastructure improvements over the next decade or so. Artur Perchel, manager, Central Eastern Europe & Israel at the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), assesses the impact.

BIDS for Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding closed on February 16, with up to €200m available for European Rail Traffic Management (ERTMS) projects, €50m for rail interoperability and a potential share of other funds not dedicated to any specific mode.

THREE years after it was adopted by the European Commission (EC), the Fourth Railway Package has reached a key phase in its gestation, and is likely to become law in 2016, bringing significant structural changes to the industry.

THE European Commission's Innovation and Network's Executive Agency (INEA) signed the final grant agreements for the last batch of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) projects on January 7, meaning that work on 263 key European transport infrastructure projects worth €12.7bn included in CEF are now underway.