INTERNATIONAL: On April 26 the People’s Republic of China deposited an application to accede to the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail as an associate member.

TRACK MACHINES: Unipart Rail has launched a range of rail construction, maintenance and renewal machines, developed in partnership with Thomson Engineering Design Ltd.

GERMANY: Transport ministers in the Länder favour keeping the flat-fare Deutschland-Ticket for the long term.

EUROPE: Slovenian Railways and Austrian Federal Railways have launched two cross-border passenger services as an initial step towards better and more frequent connections between the two countries. One links Ljubljana with Villach and the other connects Ljubljana with Pragersko, Maribor and Graz.

UK: CrossCountry has awarded West Midlands Trains a long-term contract to continue to maintain the long-distance operator’s Class 170 diesel multiple-unit fleet at Tyseley depot in Birmingham until 2031.

AUSTRIA: Austrian Federal Railways has placed a firm order for Siemens Mobility to supply a further 21 Desiro ML electric multiple-units, which the operator brands as Cityjet.

UK: Leeds-based wagon and industrial component supplier William Cook Rail has acquired coupler, bogie, buffer and wagon maintenance, repair and overhaul specialist Crowle Wharf Engineers Ltd.

USA: CSX has rolled out the first hydrogen-powered locomotive it has produced as part of a partnership with Canadian Pacific Kansas City which was announced last year.

USA: National passenger operator Amtrak on April 16 issued a Request for Information from suppliers as part of its efforts to decarbonise its rolling stock fleet.

UK: The Chartered Institution of Railway Operators is to hold its fourth annual Rail Ops conference on June 4.

News from the world rail freight market.

DENMARK: Regional operator Nordjyske Jernbaner A/S has awarded VR FleetCare a contract covering the overhaul of bogies and pneumatic components for its fleet of Alstom Coradia LINT multiple-units.

SWITZERLAND: Trials with a collision warning system as the first stage in a project to switch to GoA4 driverless operation have begun on the 1 200 mm gauge Rheineck – Walzenhausen line in the canton of St Gallen.

JAPAN: Central Japan Railway has announced plans to reintroduce private compartments on the Tokaido Shinkansen. Due to be available for passengers during 2026, there will be two private rooms in a N700S trainset ― the company says the rooms will be gradually introduced on some of the N700S fleet.

MOROCCO: National operator ONCF is stepping up the pace of planning and preliminary construction work for the 40bn dirhams high speed line between Kénitra and Marrakech.

POLAND: Pomorskie voivodship has exercised an option to purchase nine more four-car Impuls2 electric multiple-units from Newag, the region’s Marshal Mieczysław Struk announced on April 16.

UK: Organisations across the UK rail sector have broadly welcomed the reform proposals unveiled by Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh on April 25.

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

EUROPE: German regional operator BeNEX is to acquire Abellio’s German subsidiary from Dutch national operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen. The transaction covers the shares in Germany held by ATH Rail Transport Beteiligungsgesellschaft Deutschland GmbH and includes Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland GmbH Halle (Saale) and Westfalenbahn GmbH Bielefeld, as well as service, cleaning and ...

ASIA: Three agreements have been signed paving the way for construction of a 303 km mixed-traffic railway linking the port of Sohar in Oman with Abu Dhabi in the UAE.