INDIA: A specially modified 20-car Vande Bharat fitted with Automatic Emergency Braking has begun trials on the Sakleshpur–Subrahmanya Road ghat, a key step toward the proposed Bengaluru–Mangaluru service.
USA: New York City and the MTA will study whether a thermal energy network can cool Lower Manhattan subway platforms where average temperatures reached 96°F in summer 2025 while storing excess heat for winter use.
SWEDEN: Railcare has signed a new framework agreement with the Swedish Transport Administration that will keep its vacuum-based railway maintenance method available for call-off construction and maintenance work from 1 February 2027.
GERMANY: Three Siemens Mireo Plus H hydrogen trains are undergoing testing and crew training before entering regular passenger service on Südostbayernbahn’s Mühldorf–Burghausen route at the December 2026 timetable change.
UK: Network Rail will waterproof and strengthen four Victorian-built Merseyrail tunnels during a 26-day closure this autumn, targeting water ingress that can disrupt the network’s third-rail electricity supply.
MOROCCO: Vossloh Services France and Futrifer have created a Casablanca joint venture to deliver rail maintenance covering welding, grinding, milling and switch work on national and urban networks.
UK: Northern’s GPS-based Digital Pay As You Go trial is now open to all passengers on the Leeds–Harrogate and Sheffield–Doncaster routes after its participant cap was removed.
UK: GB Railfreight has put its first Class 99 hybrid locomotive into commercial freight operation, with 99001 running an intermodal service from London Gateway to Hams Hall in the West Midlands.
SPAIN: The Adif GSM-R upgrade tender, worth almost EUR 175.5 million, covers maintenance, operation and technological renewal of communications systems across major sections of Spain’s high-speed railway network.
USA: Brightline Florida is upgrading 327 highway-rail crossings along 195 miles between Miami and Cocoa, combining fencing, pavement markings, dynamic envelopes and other measures under a $25 million safety program.
INDIA: NHSRCL has signed a contract with the KCS-AVADH Consortium for specialized rolling stock maintenance machinery for the 508 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project as its depot infrastructure develops.
USA: Illinois regulators have approved nearly $1.6 million for safety upgrades at three public rail crossings in Roberts, where antiquated warning devices are to be replaced within an 18-month work window.
