INDIA: Following the recent general election, Mamata Banerjee took over as Minister of Railways on May 26. She succeeds Lalu Prasad.
Re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kolkata south constituency in West Bengal, Banerjee is President of the All India Trinamool Congress, which she founded in 1997. She has held several government posts since being elected to the Lok Saha in 1984, including Chairman of the Railways Committee in 1998 and Minister of Railways from October 1999 to March 2001.
EUROPE: Austrian Federal Railways has put into service the first of its updated Railjet trainsets on services linking Germany, Austria and Italy. Toma Bačić rode on a preview run between München and Verona on April 5.
USA: Project promoter Brightline West held a groundbreaking ceremony on April 22 in Las Vegas to launch its project to build a high speed line from the city to southern California.
SPAIN: SNCF’s low-cost subsidiary Ouigo has further expanded its operations in Spain, launching Madrid – Valladolid services on April 19, consisting of two return trips per day. Single fares start at €9, and initially 14 000 tickets per week have been made available. The operator could ...
