News

The EffiShunter 1000 family will grow again: seven locomotives of the Class 744.1 have recently been ordered by Elektrizace železnic Praha.

As can be seen from the records in the ERA TV database, on 2 July 2025, the ERA issued a type approval for the TRAXX3 MS with software version VR01.5, which is a major step for its operational deployment and interoperability.

On 25 June 2025, Siemens Mobility and BLS Netz AG have agreed on a joint, long-term framework agreement worth 110 million EUR.

This is an OCE2 trainset for the Centre-Val de Loire Region, which has arrived in Velim for tests at the speed of 200 km/h.

On 10 April 2025, Alstom has signed a contract with S-Bahn Hamburg for a technology upgrade of 82 Class 490 S-Bahn EMUs with the ETCS OBUs and ATO for semi-automatic train operation with GoA2.

The national Slovak freight operator ZSSK CARGO has already taken over all locomotives from the 20-strong batch of modernised Class 742 locomotives delivered by CZ LOKO under the EffiShunter 1000M designation.

In February 2025, RAILPOOL celebrated a milestone for its fleet’s future viability: the upgrade to ETCS Baseline version 3.4 of all locomotives in Scandinavia is complete.

Following a two-year programme of design, testing, certification and training, the first train fitted with CAF’s latest ERTMS technology has entered passenger service on SAR’s (Saudi Arabia Railways) Riyadh to Dammam network.

Siemens Mobility has been awarded four significant contracts by HS2 Ltd and will join key contractors under the Rail Systems Alliance.

On Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December 2024 further testing of the newly installed ETCS between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin was carried out.

ETCS technology is now controlling every single train that commuters catch on the Great Northern route to Moorgate in the City of London.

On 24 October 2024, test runs of RegioJet locomotives 388.216 and 219 took place in and around Olomouc for the RSC (Radio System Compatibility) tests related to ETCS. 

On 15 October 2024, Alstom concluded an addendum on the contract with Škoda Group for the supply of the ETCS Level 2 for trains to be manufactured by Škoda for RegioJet.

After the unit 665.002 started testing under ETCS supervision on the Czech network at the beginning of June, the same EMU appeared again in September in Olomouc.

On 22 August 2024 another step forward has been taken towards the introduction of the ETCS to the East Coast Main Line with the completion of dynamic testing for key trains in both the passenger and freight sector.