THE second light rail line in the French city of Le Mans was inaugurated on August 30 by the city's mayor Mr Jean-Claude Boulard, and member of parliament for Le Mans Mr Stéphane le Foll.

GERMAN Rail (DB) and French National Railways (SNCF) marked a milestone for international high-speed services between Germany and France on August 29, when they carried their 10 millionth passenger on their ICE and TGV services from Stuttgart and Frankfurt to Paris.

FRENCH surveyors FIT ESIC are creating a 3D topographical map of track and lineside equipment for French National Railways (SNCF) using the StreetMapper LiDAR laser surveying system developed by 3D Laser Mapping, Britain.

FRENCH Rail Regulator Araf has rejected plans for a rolling road service between Pas-de-Calais and the Spanish border because it believes the concession structure adopted for the project could harm competition and risks impacting the performance of passenger services.

INTERNATIONAL high-speed operator Thalys enjoyed continued revenue growth in the first half of this year with increasing ridership on its core routes from Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne and the successful launch of Amsterdam – Lille services in April.

GERMAN Rail (DB) long-distance subsidiary DB Fernverkehr is planning to further restructure its night train and Autozug motor rail services, which have collectively lost more than €20m annually in recent years.

THE rail strike in June and France's continuing sluggish economy caused French National Railways (SNCF) to report a 74% drop in net profit to €224m for the first half of 2014 compared with a net profit of €865m for the first half of 2013.

THE French Senate definitively adopted the findings of the parliamentary joint committee (CMP) on draft legislation on railway reform in one of the final steps in the legislative process before the bill becomes law.

THREE investigations have been launched in France following a rear-end collision on July 17 between a TER passenger train and a TGV at Denguin, 14km west of Pau on the Tarbes - Dax main line.

FRENCH Rail Network (RFF) invites civil engineering companies to bid by August 26 for a contract to construct a 6km underground extension to RER Line E in Paris.