SPAIN: The Ministry of Transport & Sustainable Mobility has awarded a contract to study the viability of building a long-proposed a railway linking Málaga with the airport, the Costa del Sol resorts and Algeciras.

UK: The Secretary of State for Transport has issued an contract expiry notice confirming the date when train operator Greater Anglia is to be nationalised.

EUROPE: A joint working group is to bring together the British and Swiss governments and rail industry experts to examine how to overcome the commercial and technical barriers to launching a direct high speed train service between the countries.

USA: FreightCar America received orders for 1 250 wagons worth $141m during the quarter ended March 31 2025. It said this represents approximately 25% of all new wagons ordered in the quarter, and 36% of its addressable market, its largest market share in 15 years.

The Commonwealth of Virginia has purchased 640 km of trackage and disused alignments as it seeks to significantly expand passenger rail services. With funding in place for projects to 2030, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director DJ Stadtler explains the strategy and progress so far to Benjámin Zelki.

GERMANY: The Land of Bayern has awarded Siemens Mobility a contract to supply three Mireo Plus H hydrogen multiple-units to replace diesel trains on Südostbayernbahn services.

High Speed 2 should be rescoped to run from London Euston to Crewe, taking advantage of the lessons learned and supply chain foundations established during Phase 1, says Dyan Perry, Chair of the High Speed Rail Group.

SWEDEN: Transport authority Storstockholms Lokaltrafik has awarded Alstom a contract to support and develop digital systems on the Movia C20 and C30 metro trainsets it supplied for the Stockholm metro.

This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.

UK: The Office of Rail & Road is consulting on revising its Accessible Travel Policy guidance so that claims for redress when booked assistance fails disabled passengers are always considered on the circumstances in each case.

USA: Alstom has delivered the first of 29 Innovia APM 300R vehicles to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

While the US federal government cancelled its grant for the Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor, and it is actively promoting the revival of domestic manufacturing, recent examples show that the private sector without federal support or public-private partnerships, especially with the exclusion of the international manufacturers, will not be capable to ...

EUROPE: The RAlpin ‘Rolling Highway’ piggyback service carrying accompanied lorries through the Alps by rail is to be discontinued in December, three years earlier than planned.

NEW ZEALAND: An Alstom Iconis Traffic Management System has gone live on the Wairarapa Line, as the first step in a major digitalisation programme which will eventually see KiwiRail manage its entire network from two control centres in Wellington and Auckland.

INTERNATIONAL: China, Germany, The Netherlands and Togo have now signed the United Nations Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Rail, which aims to eliminate rail’s competitive disadvantage for the transport of freight between Europe and Asia.

JAPAN: Transreport has launched an online tool to make it easier for anyone with assistance requirements to request support at Hankyu Railway’s 87 stations. The commuter operator runs trains serving the Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe areas.

A project which aims to develop a more affordable alternative to traditional tramways is taking its next major step. Andrew Grantham reports from the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre.

UK: The legal minimum age at which people can become train drivers to be lowered, with the Department for Transport saying thousands of jobs and apprenticeships are to be made available as early as December.

EUROPE: A phalanx of trade associations from across the rail and logistics sectors has issued a position paper calling for the EU to push ahead with a successor to the Europe’s Rail research body.

This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector.