THELLO, the open-access joint venture between Trenitalia and Transdev, increased the number of direct trains between Nice and Milan from one to three train pairs from April12.

WORKERS at NTV, Italy's open-access high-speed operator, went on strike for the first time on April 10 as the operator pushes ahead with plans to dismiss 246 staff, or a quarter of the company's workforce, as a cost-cutting measure as it battles with its €670m debt.

TRENITALIA has placed a €98m order with AnsaldoBreda for 70 additional Vivalto double-deck coaches, which will be used on regional services in Liguria, Veneto, and Lazio.

CONSTRUCTION of Austria's 55km Brenner Base Tunnel took another step forward on March 19, when a ceremony was held to mark the start of drilling on the main bore of the tunnel.

ITALIAN State Railways is promising to introduce several new presentation concepts to the World Congress on Railway Research (WCRR), which it will host in Milan from May 29 - June 2 2016, and is inviting prospective contributors to submit paper abstracts or proposals by April 30.

FOLLOWING recent discussions between the board of Italian open-access high-speed operator NTV and trade unions, the operator has hinted at several reforms to achieve its goal of breaking even by 2020, including a capital increase of €70-100m and the purchase of six to 10 new high-speed trains.

THE president of the Italian region of Tuscany Mr Enrico Rossi announced on March 2 that the regional government has secured a €200m loan to finance track-doubling on the 44km Pistoia – Lucca line, which is used by around 50 trains a day.

THE board of directors of Italian State Railways (FS) approved a proposal on February 25 to issue one or more loan stocks through a Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) on the Dublin stock exchange.

THE board of Italian open-access high-speed operator NTV appointed Mr Flavio Cattaneo as its new CEO on February 26, and also approved new strategic and business plans for the company.

FRENCH president Mr François Hollande, French secretary of state for transport Mr Alain Vidalies and Italian infrastructure and transport minister Mr Maurizio Lupi signed an agreement to go ahead with a new €26bn railway linking Lyon and Turin during an international summit in Paris on February 24.