ITALIAN rolling stock manufacturer AnsaldoBreda announced on August 1 that it has filed an appeal against the verdict of the Court of Justice in Utrecht, which ruled on July 3 that Netherlands Railways (NS) and Belgian National Railways (SNCB) will not be required to disclose three technical reports commissioned prior to the cancellation of their orders for V250 Fyra trains.

GERMAN federal transport minister Dr Peter Ramsauer, the first minister of the German state of North Rhine Westphalia Mrs. Hannelore Kraft, and German Rail (DB) CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube signed a €1.5bn agreement in Bonn on July 24 to fund a major upgrade of the 73km line between the Dutch border at Emmerich and Oberhausen.

UTRECHT Regional Council (BRU) has issued a tender notice for a contract to supply 27 low-floor LRVs for the 7.5km Uithof Line, which will link Utrecht Central station with the Uithof universary campus on the eastern side of the city.

IN an effort to fill the void left by the abandonment of Brussels – Amsterdam Fyra services, Thalys is planning to introduce two additional weekday services to Amsterdam from October 7.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has confirmed that it will order Bombardier Traxx locomotives to replace the abandoned V250 high-speed trains manufactured by AnsaldoBreda for Fyra services between Amsterdam and Brussels.

ARRIVA has been selected by the municipal government of The Hague to operate a direct open-access service between the Dutch city and Brussels from December 2015.

BRITISH railfreight operator Freightliner is set for a major expansion of its international activities after announcing on June 19 that it has acquired Rotterdam-based intermodal operator ERS Railways from Maersk Line for an undisclosed sum.

ABELLIO Rail NRW signed a contract with Stadler Pankow on June 12 for a fleet of 20 five-car Flirt emus, which will be used on the Dutch-German Lower Rhine Network from December 2016.

THE Dutch government announced on June 7 that it has decided to cancel its contract with AnsaldoBreda for 16 V250 high-speed trains, in accordance with the wishes of Netherlands Railways (NS).

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) says it is considering abandoning its fleet of V250 trains as it is unconvinced that AnsaldoBreda will be able to correct the numerous faults on the trains within an acceptable period.