More cities on the Chinese mainland have got direct rail links to and from Hong Kong under CR’s latest timetable, while the national rail network continues to grow with another flurry of year-end openings.

SWITZERLAND: Chemins de Fer du Jura has awarded Stadler Signalling a SFr4·3m contract to renew signalling systems at Tavannes and Orange by 2027.

UK: Southeastern has announced that a toilet is to be retrofitted to the Class 707 City Beam electric multiple-units used on London suburban services.

Regular inter-city passenger services have returned to Mexico with the launch of Alstom’s Tren Maya fleet across five states in the Yucatán Peninsula.

HUNGARY: Hungarian logistics company Waberer’s International signed an agreement on December 23 to acquire a 62·5% stake in Hungarian-Austrian rail freight company GySEV Cargo.

ASIA: Hassan Allam Construction has appointed Italian certification and engineering company RINA to provided system engineering and integration services for the Hafeet Rail project to build a 303 km mixed-traffic line linking the port of Sohar in Oman with Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

UK: Cordel has installed Lidar sensors on two Network Rail maintenance units to make accurate measurements of platforms which will help to maximise the opportunities for level boarding of Southeastern’s next generation of London suburban trains.

UK: Austrian railway construction and maintenance contractor Swietelsky has acquired locomotive hire, storage and maintenance company Harry Needle Railroad Co.

Set up by UIC and three national railways, the recently formed Open Rail Association is seeking to grow its membership to drive adoption of open source software in the rail market, as Swiss Federal Railways’ CIO Jochen Decker and Nicole Göbel, Chief Executive of Deutsche Bahn’s information technology arm ...

SAUDI ARABIA: The Royal Commission for AlUla and Saudi Railway Polytechnic have announced an agreement to boost the capabilities of young Saudis looking to launch a career in AlUla and in the country’s rail sector.

UK: Eriks UK & Ireland has completed a £1·2m refurbishment of its engineering workshop at Greenford in west London as a dedicated facility for servicing London Underground traction motors.

EUROPE: In what the two incumbents term ‘a co-operation between historic operators’, SNCF and SNCB have launched a low-cost loco-hauled Ouigo service between Paris and Brussels.

News from the world rail freight market.

UK: The National Centre for Accessible Transport has launched a database to consolidate accessible transport research, strategy and policy-related documents, along with a transport barriers database highlighting the challenges that disabled people face.

Threatened with closure in the mid-1980s, Catalunya’s Lleida – La Pobla de Segur branch has been revitalised by the regional government over the past two decades. Targeted investment is paying off with steadily increasing ridership, reports Mike Bent.

SPAIN: High speed rail infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has awarded Sacyr Construcción a €49m contract to build 6·3 km of the future 19 km Loja bypass on the high speed line from Antequera to Granada.

FRANCE: The renewal of the rolling stock fleet used on the RER suburban network around Paris is continuing, with the latest generation RER NG trainsets entering service on Line D in December.

UK: Train operator TransPennine Express has launched a free virtual work experience programme aimed at anyone interested in a career in rail.

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

CHINA: City University of Hong Kong, MTR Corp and MTR Academy have signed a memorandum of understanding covering railway-related research, talent development and innovation.