UK: More people with colour blindness will be able to work in safety critical railway roles such as train driving as a result of research undertaken by the Rail Safety & Standards Board at the request of drivers’ union ASLEF.

EUROPE: The Association of European Rail Rolling stock Lessors has called for the more co-ordinated deployment of ERTMS, changes to subsidy policies and measures to ensure life-time support of vehicles. It says these measures are needed to avoid disrupting procurement and to avoid rail pricing itself out of the freight ...

GERMANY: The first three Stuttgart S-Bahn electric multiple-units to be refurbished have been unveiled by operator DB Regio and transport authority VRS ahead of their return to passenger service in February.

MOROCCO: ONCF is working on the development of RER-branded suburban rail networks around Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech for launch by the end of the decade.

NORTH MACEDONIA: Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has inaugurated the first section of a future rail route between Skopje and Sofia which is being developed as part of pan-European Corridor VIII to link the Adriatic and the Black seas.

SPAIN: Drivers entering the cabs of RENFE’s Series 106 Avril high speed trainsets on January 1 discovered the entire fleet could not be activated.

UK: Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander set out five priorities for Shadow Great British Railways in her first major rail-focused speech in the role.

UK: FirstGroup has set out its case for retaining a ‘thriving’ open access sector as part of the restructured railway, arguing that privately-funded services without government contracts can drive growth across all operators including those to be controlled by Great British Railways.

UK: Ahead of consultation on the government’s rail reform bill, operating group association Rail Partners and its five freight members have published A Greener Track making four proposals to support growth.

SOUTH KOREA: The national network has expanded with the opening of two strategic links in recent weeks.