BRITISH train and bus operator, First Group, has applied to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to operate a new open-access service of five trains per day between London King's Cross and Edinburgh starting in 2018.

RAILROAD Development Corporation (RDC) has lost its appeal at the Administrative Court in Cologne against the Federal Networks Agency's decision to prevent DB Networks signing draft agreements for train paths for RDC's proposed motor-rail services between Niebüll and Westerland on the island of Sylt.

PLANS for open-access car-carrying trains serving the island of Sylt in northern Germany have suffered a setback after the Federal Networks Agency instructed infrastructure manager DB Networks not to sign draft agreements with the German subsidiary of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), United States, for train paths on the route.

GERMANY's infrastructure manager, DB Networks, has informed open-access intercity operator Hamburg-Köln-Express (HKX) that it can only have three of the six paths it requested for a new service from Bonn to Berlin, which would make the service unviable.

BRITAIN's Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has rejected proposals by Arriva subsidiary Great North Western Railway (GNWR) to introduce long-distance open-access services from London to Huddersfield, Leeds, and Blackpool via the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

THE European Commission announced on November 26 that it has launched infringement proceedings against Austria at the European Court of Justice for failing to comply with EU regulations on financial transparency in the rail sector.

ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV says it is likely to lay off up to 248 staff – a quarter of its workforce – as part of a major restructuring plan for the company, which was presented to trade unions on October 30.

OPEN-ACCESS long-distance operator Thello announced on October 30 that tickets have gone on sale for its new Marseilles – Milan service, which is due to begin operating next month.

THE FIRST of six 200km/h Flirt EMUs for Swedish open-access operator MTR Express left the Stadler Rail plant in Bussnang, Switzerland, on August 21 bound initially for the company's train commissioning centre in nearby Erlen.

THE steering committee of NTV approved the company's 2013 financial results at the end of July, showing the Italian open-access high-speed operator made a loss of €77m during its first full year of operation.