AUSTRIAN open-access operator Westbahn will purchase 10 additional Kiss EMUs from Stadler in a €180m deal announced by Mr Peter Haselsteiner, director of Rail Holding, Westbahn's parent company.

Brazil's railway network is entering an exciting new era: construction projects which are underway and planned promise to rebalance logistics in favour of rail over road. Initiatives are also in the works to stimulate the domestic railway manufacturing industry and its supply chain following years of inconsistent production. But with progress comes challenges, as Kevin Smith discovered during a visit to São Paulo.

IRJ and IRITS hosted the International Railway Summit 2015 in Barcelona on February 18-20, welcoming 80 delegates to the conference and parallel supplier-buyer matchmaking sessions. Keith Barrow and Kevin Smith pick out the highlights from this well-received event.

GERMAN logistics company Rhenus Group has concluded an agreement to acquire a 50.1% stake in Swiss open-access railfreight operator Crossrail for an undisclosed sum.

BRITISH open-access railfreight operator Colas Rail has agreed a contract with HaCon, Germany, to deploy its train planning system, TPS Operator, which is intended to integrate with infrastructure manager Network Rail's (NR) own TPS Enterprise solution.

SPANISH national train operator Renfe and German Rail (DB) subsidiary Transfesa are facing an investigation by Spanish competition authorities following evidence of a possible collusion agreement and abuse of a dominant position by the public company, which could be detrimental to other railfreight operators.

THE EUROPEAN Rail Freight Association (ERFA) has warned the European Parliament that competition in the railfreight sector is being "strangled" by an inadequate regulatory structure and monopolistic behaviour by incumbent operators.

SWISS Federal Railways (SBB) published its first half results on September 1, revealing a 3% rise in daily passenger traffic, which increased to 1.002 million, and 27% year-on-year growth in freight traffic, which reached 7.6 billion net tonne-km.

GERMAN Rail (DB) published its financial results for the first half of 2014 on July 24, revealing that ridership on its trains in Germany increased by 10 million year-on-year to just over 1 billion passengers.

AUSTRIAN railfreight continued to suffer the effects of the prolonged economic downturn last year according to annual figures released by Austria's rail regulator Schienen-Control, which also show a strong increase in passenger traffic.