FINLAND: Rolling stock owning company Suomen Ostoliikennekalusto has been created to facilitate government plans to tender the operation of publicly-funded passenger rail services.

GERMANY: ForCity Plus 47T trams supplied by Škoda Group officially entered passenger service in Cottbus on August 15.

USA: The Northstar commuter rail service from Big Lake into Minneapolis is to be replaced by buses after riders failed to return following the pandemic.

POLAND: City transport operator MPK Kraków has awarded Pesa Bydgoszcz a firm contract to supply 30 Twist 3.0 trams, which Mayor Aleksander Miszalski said would be ‘a huge step towards accessibility and comfort’ for all residents.

POLAND: Infrastructure manager PKP PLK has awarded GRAW a contract to supply inspection vehicles and software that would enable manual track inspections to be replaced by safer and more efficient automated processes.

GERMANY: Non-destructive test company Waygate Technologies has launched a fully automated ultrasonic wheelset testing system.

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

UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail says a strengthening and waterproofing process used on the 175-year old Blackheath Tunnel in southeast London is believed to be ‘the first of its kind in the UK and potentially the world’.

AFRICA: Construction of a railway from Uvinza in Tanzania to Musongati in Burundi has been officially launched by President of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye and Tranzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa.

AFRICA: Construction of a railway from Uvinza in Tanzania to Musongati in Burundi has been officially launched by President of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye and Tranzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa.

EUROPE: Virgin has set out details of its plans to launch high speed train services through the Channel Tunnel, and says it is ready to confirm an order for Alstom trainsets which would enable the start of services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam during 2030.

AUSTRALIA: National, state and territory transport ministers have backed the adoption of ETCS for national interoperability, as well as plans to streamline rolling stock approvals and enable the Rail Industry Safety & Standards Board to lead the setting of technical standards.

USA: A traditional Hawaiian blessing officially marked the start of construction of the next section of the Honolulu Skyline automated light metro.

UK: A ‘pioneering’ approach to rail project delivery by the South Rail Systems Alliance achieved a 42% reduction in carbon emissions during a two-week possession at Stoke Gifford near Bristol.

ROMANIA: The first of 16 Alstom Traxx Universal locomotives ordered by national railway reform authority ARF is undergoing dynamic testing at the Făurei test centre.

GERMANY: The search is underway for a new Deutsche Bahn Chief Executive, after federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder announced that incumbent Richard Lutz will finish his term early.

UK: Greater Anglia says it is the first train operating company to introduce a streamlined booking process enabling disabled and older passengers to pre-book assistance at the same time as buying tickets on the Greater Anglia website.

ITALY: Lombardia regional passenger train operator Trenord has launched an account on the WeChat social media and messaging app which is popular with Chinese visitors.

News from the world rail freight market.

Pandrol has deployed its latest low-vibration trackform and floating sleeper mats on two extensions of the light rail network in the historic centre of Firenze. The company’s Technology Manager for Sustainable Resilient Systems Ernesto San Vicente explains how the challenges of the deployment were overcome.