Fehmarnbelt tunnel lays first element

DENMARK/GERMANY: The first of the 217-metre-long tunnel elements for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is now in place on the seabed. The immersion vessel IVY placed the element on 7 May, opening the construction sequence for an 18 km crossing that will cut the Copenhagen–Hamburg rail journey from around 4.5 hours to 2.5.

The first element is one of 89 required to complete the structure. Each immersion follows the same sequence — transport, positioning, hydraulic connection, and gravel securing — before the next begins.

The tunnel closes a critical gap in the TEN-T Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor. Opening is scheduled for 2031.

Each of the five-tube elements carries two road lanes, two single-track rail tubes, and one service passage. At 18 km, the completed tunnel will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel.

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GoVolta drops Hamburg after seven weeks

CROSS-BORDER: GoVolta launched Amsterdam–Hamburg on 20 March alongside its Berlin service — and is now suspending it after average occupancy of 60% fell short of what a wholly commercial operation requires.

The last Hamburg departures run at the end of May. From 1 July, GoVolta doubles its Amsterdam–Berlin frequency to six weekly departures and shifts the Berlin terminus from Gesundbrunnen to Spandau.

Amsterdam–Paris launches 14 December via Antwerp and Ghent.

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Alstom wins EUR 295m Lausanne metro contract

SWITZERLAND: Alstom has won a EUR 295m contract to deliver new signalling and midlife upgrades across Lausanne’s M2 metro line, Switzerland’s only fully automated urban metro.

The contract, signed 5 May, covers Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling across the full M2 network and a fleet midlife upgrade programme. CBTC tracks train positions continuously rather than in fixed blocks, allowing shorter headways without expanding the physical network.

Transports publics lausannois has not published a delivery timeline for either workstream.

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Two of three Leo Express Talgo sets pulled from service

CZECHIA: Two of Leo Express’s three leased Talgo VI trainsets have been withdrawn from service within a week of their launch on new cross-border services linking Prague with Bratislava and Prešov.

Each Talgo VI set relies on a dedicated diesel generator van for all auxiliary power — heating, cooling, lighting and doors. When the generator ran out of diesel mid-route on one service, all auxiliary systems lost power simultaneously.

Full Praha–Bratislava service is expected to resume 14 May. One set remains covering both corridors in the interim.

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Škoda agrees Uzbekistan EMU deal with EU financing

INDUSTRY: Škoda Group has agreed a strategic cooperation deal valued at EUR 120m covering the supply and maintenance of 10 electric multiple units for Uzbekistan Railways — reviving an arrangement that collapsed in 2023 over export financing. The new agreement is backed by the European Investment Bank and designated a flagship initiative under the EU’s Global Gateway programme.

The 10 four-car EMUs are built for the 1,520 mm broad-gauge network and based on the RegioPanter platform in service in Latvia and Estonia. Production will take place at Škoda’s Ostrava facility.

The deal also establishes a joint venture in Uzbekistan for local assembly and maintenance, alongside a Škoda Academy for technical training.

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DENMARK/GERMANY: The first of the 217-metre-long tunnel elements for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is now in place on the seabed. The immersion vessel IVY placed the element on 7 May, opening the construction sequence for an 18 km crossing that will cut the Copenhagen–Hamburg rail journey from around 4.5 hours to 2.5.

Sund & Bælt, the Danish state company managing the project, confirmed the element was positioned precisely in the tunnel trench off the Danish coast after a 14-hour immersion operation, verified by laser measurement inside the element itself.

The completion marks a historic milestone for what will be the first fixed link between Scandinavia and Germany — Northern Europe’s largest infrastructure project.

Operation and next steps

Five tugboats and IVY transported the 73,500-tonne element from the tunnel factory at Rødbyhavn on the Danish island of Lolland before the immersion began around noon on 7 May. Hydraulic arms connected it to the Danish tunnel portal once in position.

The two immersion pontoons will now be replaced by a gravel-placement vessel, which will secure the element by depositing material along its sides. The same sequence will repeat for the remaining 88 elements, each immersed into a trench up to 40 metres below the sea surface.

Each element is divided into five tubes: two dual-carriageway road tubes, two single-track rail tubes, and one service and escape tube. At 18 kilometres, the completed structure will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel. The fixed link will allow a car to cross the Fehmarnbelt in 10 minutes and a train in seven.

Timeline and European dimension

The tunnel is expected to open in 2031. The European Commission has designated Fehmarnbelt a priority project and awarded approximately EUR 1.3bn in construction funding. The tunnel closes a key missing link in the TEN-T Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor, one of nine core corridors in the network.

“We are both happy and relieved,” said Mikkel Hemmingsen, CEO of Sund & Bælt. “It is a very big day for the project, for Denmark and Germany and for Europe.”

European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport Apostolos Tzitzikostas described the immersion as a historic achievement, saying the tunnel would connect regions more closely and create new momentum between Malmö, Copenhagen, Hamburg and onwards into Europe.

CROSS-BORDER: GoVolta launched Amsterdam–Hamburg on 20 March alongside its Berlin service — and is now suspending it after average occupancy of 60% fell short of what a wholly commercial operation requires.

The Dutch low-cost open-access startup ran Amsterdam–Hamburg three times a week using refurbished Belgian i10 coaches. The last trains run at the end of May; buses replace them through June to honour existing bookings.

The route was commercially exposed from the outset. Keolis Nederland, the planned operating partner, withdrew two weeks before launch after it emerged Keolis lacked the certificates required to operate trains in Germany. GoVolta proceeded regardless, engaging Train Charter Services as operator.

Partner failure and occupancy gap end Hamburg run

With Hamburg suspended, GoVolta is consolidating around Berlin. From 1 July, the Amsterdam–Berlin service increases from three to six weekly departures. The Berlin terminus shifts from Gesundbrunnen to Spandau from 14 June.

The company expects its competitive position on the Berlin corridor to strengthen from December. DB InfraGO’s maintenance closure of the Hannover–Berlin line runs from 13 December 2026 to 15 October 2027, diverting ICE services via Hamburg. Routing via Magdeburg, GoVolta says it expects to offer shorter journey times than the diverted ICE services.

Amsterdam–Paris launches 14 December via Antwerp and Ghent, marking GoVolta’s third route since operations began less than two months ago.

SWITZERLAND: Alstom has won a EUR 295m contract to deliver new signalling and midlife upgrades across Lausanne’s M2 metro line, Switzerland’s only fully automated urban metro.

The contract, signed 5 May, covers train-centric Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling across the full M2 network alongside a fleet midlife upgrade programme.

The CBTC system will allow shorter headways and higher throughput on the 14-station line without additional rolling stock.

Signalling at the centre of the contract

CBTC tracks train positions continuously rather than in fixed blocks, allowing vehicles to run closer together. On an automated line like the M2, that translates directly into higher frequency without expanding the physical network.

The midlife upgrade programme will extend the operational life of the existing rubber-tyred fleet.

M2’s role in the Lausanne network

The M2 connects Ouchy on the Lake Geneva waterfront to Epalinges in the northern suburbs, climbing steeply through the city centre. It is the primary public transport spine of the Lausanne agglomeration and operates without a driver.

Transports publics lausannois has not published a delivery timeline for either workstream.

CZECHIA: Two of Leo Express’s three leased Talgo VI trainsets have been withdrawn from service within a week of their launch on new cross-border services linking Prague with Bratislava and Prešov.

Czech and Slovak media have reported an emergency stop at 150 km/h near Olomouc, door and air-conditioning failures, and a mid-route halt when the heating and cooling generator ran out of diesel.

A Leo Express spokesman acknowledged the problems to Czech news agency ČTK but attributed them to vandalism — a stone through a window in eastern Slovakia — and initial problems he described as normal for any new operation

Three sets, two corridors, no reserve

The three Talgo VI rakes were leased from Renfe, Leo Express’s 50% stakeholder, in October 2025. Built in the late 1980s and refurbished in 2019–20, the sets had been withdrawn from Spanish service before their transfer to Central Europe. Each carries 354 passengers across Economy and Business classes and is hauled by a leased Siemens Vectron locomotive.

Czech rail specialist publication Railvolution, which questioned the readiness of the deployment before service began, noted that the sets entered service without a prior operational test period and that three rakes across two long-distance corridors left no reserve capacity.

Generator van, not a backup

Each Talgo VI set relies on a dedicated diesel generator van for all auxiliary power — heating, cooling, lighting and doors. The Vectron locomotive provides traction only. When the generator ran out of diesel mid-route, heating, cooling, lighting and doors lost power simultaneously

One reported incident involved an emergency brake activation at 150 km/h on open track near Olomouc, with staff leaning out of doors to inspect the train while a service passed at full speed on the adjacent line.

What comes next

Full Praha–Bratislava service is expected to resume 14 May. The Praha–Prešov corridor remains reduced to a single daily working through the end of May. One set remains in service across both corridors.

Leo Express is scheduled to launch a Frankfurt–Leipzig–Dresden–Praha–Ostrava–Kraków–Przemyšl service on 25 June.

Correction: we previously stated Leo Express plans to use Talgo VI equipment on the Frankfurt service. Leo Express will operate Frankfurt routes with former DB coaches leased via Renfe Alquiler Rodante.

INDUSTRY: Škoda Group has agreed a strategic cooperation deal valued at EUR 120m covering the supply and maintenance of 10 electric multiple units for Uzbekistan Railways — reviving an arrangement that collapsed in 2023 over export financing. The new agreement is backed by the European Investment Bank and designated a flagship initiative under the EU’s Global Gateway programme.

The agreement was signed 30 April in Tashkent in the presence of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The 10 four-car EMUs are built for the 1,520 mm gauge network and based on the RegioPanter platform currently in service in Latvia and Estonia.

A joint venture for local production and maintenance, and a Škoda Academy for technical training, form part of the deal. Financing comes from EGAP, the Czech state export insurer, and the European Investment Bank, under the EU’s Global Gateway infrastructure investment framework.

From collapse to deal: the financing fix

The 2023 arrangement — a EUR 320m agreement for 30 trains — never reached production. Export financing could not be concluded, and the project was suspended without a single unit being built.

The new structure resolves that blockage. EGAP provides state-backed export insurance; the European Investment Bank co-finances the deal.

Speaking to Czech daily Hospodářské noviny in February 2026, Škoda Group CEO Petr Novotný said the company had failed to secure the necessary export financing for the original deal. He said the combination of EGAP and EU support made the revised offer competitive against Chinese manufacturers, who are active in the Uzbek market.

What the deal covers

The 10 EMUs will be produced at Škoda’s Ostrava facility, where the same RegioPanter platform is already in production for operators in Latvia and Estonia. The broad-gauge variant has been adapted for the 1,520 mm network covering Uzbekistan and the wider post-Soviet rail area.

Beyond rolling stock delivery, the agreement establishes a joint venture in Uzbekistan for local assembly and maintenance. A Škoda Academy will train local technical staff, with the transfer of maintenance expertise intended to make Uzbekistan Railways increasingly capable of maintaining the fleet independently.

The corridor behind the deal

Uzbekistan’s rail network sits on the Trans-Caspian international transport route — the corridor linking Central Asia to the extended Trans-European transport network. Global Gateway, the EU’s infrastructure investment framework, explicitly targets this corridor as a strategic priority.

For Škoda, the agreement establishes a manufacturing and maintenance presence in a market where competition is intensifying. Russia’s TMH unveiled its EP5N low-floor EMU at the INNOPROM Central Asia trade show in Tashkent in April, developed in cooperation with the Tashkent Passenger Car Construction and Repair Plant. EU-backed financing is what Novotný has said makes Škoda’s offer competitive on price.

Sweden cuts freight track charges by 20% from 2028

SWEDEN: Sweden’s infrastructure manager Trafikverket has cut track access charges for rail freight by an average of 20% from 2028, after a new study found the sector’s infrastructure costs had been systematically overstated.

The revision corrects a decade-long overestimate of freight’s share of track wear, shifting part of the charge base to passenger operations. A revised marginal-cost model — based on data through 2023 — underpins the change.

The cut reverses part of a cumulative increase that peaked at 37–44% for ore and heavy freight at the 2025 timetable change. Industry had set a one-third reduction as the minimum threshold for restoring rail freight’s competitiveness against road haulage.

New rates take effect with Timetable 2028 in December 2027.

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EIB signs EUR 266m loan for Bucharest tram upgrade

ROMANIA: The European Investment Bank has signed a EUR 266m loan with the city of Bucharest to modernise a tram network that the bank says carries 500,000 passengers a day, with approximately 50 km of track and 63 new vehicles in scope.

The loan covers track renewal, Colentina depot modernisation, and new vehicle procurement — all with a 2030 completion deadline. The 63 new light rail vehicles remain untendered; Bucharest’s procurement plan listed a January–June 2026 tender window, which has not yet opened.

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Swiss regional routes risk funding loss

SWITZERLAND: The Federal Office of Transport (FOT) has proposed a minimum revenue threshold for subsidised regional rail services — high-frequency routes must cover at least 30% of costs from their own revenue or lose federal funding from 2029/2030.

The threshold applies to services running more frequently than every 30 minutes. Routes below it face a binary choice before the next ordering cycle: cut frequency to remain under the existing 20% requirement, or lose federal subsidy. The public consultation runs until 29 May.

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French Senate forces SNCF Connect to list rivals’ tickets

FRANCE: The French Senate has voted to require SNCF Connect to sell tickets from competing rail operators by the end of 2027, a structural shift in French rail distribution with direct consequences for open access operators including Trenitalia and Renfe.

The full transport framework bill passed the Senate on 28 April by 310 to 19 and now moves to the Assemblée nationale for its first reading. The rule is not yet law — the lower house can amend or remove it entirely.

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The Lisbon FSR ruling was never about the price

The European Commission’s ruling that Chinese supplier CRRC had to leave the Lisbon metro consortium settled the question of fair competition — or at least, a specific version of it. It said nothing about whether the price was right, whether European suppliers could have matched it, or whether China’s rail industry has simply become better than Europe’s.

The consortium’s bid held at EUR 598.8m after CRRC was replaced by Pesa. The FSR test was not whether the bid was low — it was whether the state support behind it could be traced and assessed. The Commission found it could not.

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SWEDEN: Sweden’s infrastructure manager Trafikverket has cut track access charges for rail freight by an average of 20% from 2028, after a new study found the sector’s infrastructure costs had been systematically overstated.

Trafikverket announced the reduction on 4 May, reversing part of a cumulative increase that pushed average freight charges up by around 37% at the 2025 timetable change, with ore trains facing rises of up to 44%. Passenger charges will rise by an average of 15% under the same revision.

The new rates correct a decade-long overestimate of freight’s share of track wear costs, with Trafikverket’s revised marginal-cost model redistributing the charge base between freight and passenger operations.

Revised cost model drives the rebalancing

Trafikverket’s previous marginal-cost calculations, which underpinned successive charge increases, were based on wear data running only to 2016. The revised study, completed as part of a government commission delivered in June 2025, used data through 2023 and found that heavy freight trains cause less incremental damage to infrastructure than earlier models assumed.

The correction shifts a significant portion of the charge base to passenger operations, which the new model shows were undercharged relative to their actual infrastructure impact. Passenger TAC will rise 15% from 2028 as a result.

Relief falls short of industry threshold

The reduction lands below the level Sweden’s freight sector had called for. Operators and major industrial transport buyers had set a minimum one-third reduction as the threshold needed to restore rail freight’s competitiveness against road haulage.

The steepest single increase came at the 2024–2025 timetable change: Trafikverket’s own calculations showed an average rise of 37% across the freight segment and 44% for ore trains, while industry bodies representing heavy timber and mining shippers cited rises of up to 55% for the most weight-intensive traffic categories. Iron ore services on Malmbanan were among the hardest hit.

Sweden’s transport regulator Transportstyrelsen had formally ordered Trafikverket in 2022 to bring charges into line with the EU framework requiring charges to reflect marginal infrastructure costs — the same legal baseline the revised model now applies.

Freight competitiveness and the road comparison

The revision brings Sweden’s charge structure closer to the EU baseline, but the gap with road haulage remains the underlying competitive question. Road transport in Sweden does not pay charges reflecting its full external costs, and successive freight TAC increases had pushed freight from rail to road — a trend that operators, industrial shippers and environmental groups had all flagged as a consequence of the charge trajectory.

The 20% reduction reduces that pressure without eliminating it. For freight operators running heavy trains on routes such as Malmbanan, the effective cost relief will depend on how the average translates to their specific traffic profile. Trafikverket has not published a breakdown by freight segment.

Timetable 2028 takes effect in December 2027.

ROMANIA: The European Investment Bank has signed a EUR 266m loan with the city of Bucharest to modernise a tram network that the bank says carries 500,000 passengers a day, with approximately 50 km of track and 63 new vehicles in scope.

The agreement, signed by EIB Vice-President Ioannis Tsakiris and Mayor Ciprian Ciucu, forms part of a broader EUR 300m EIB loan package supporting a EUR 1.3bn urban mobility and energy programme for the Romanian capital.

The financing covers track renewal across approximately 50 km of routes, modernisation of Colentina depot, and procurement of 63 new light rail vehicles, with all works scheduled for completion by 2030.

Loan structure and programme scope

The three components address the network’s main operational constraints. Track renewal across approximately 50 km of routes will remove speed restrictions on ageing infrastructure; Colentina depot modernisation will support fleet maintenance capacity; and 63 new light rail vehicles will expand and replace rolling stock on a network that has operated for more than 50 years.

All three workstreams carry the same 2030 completion deadline, setting a fixed delivery window across the programme.

The EUR 266m tranche is the second under a EUR 300m EIB loan to Bucharest. An earlier EUR 34m tranche covered the energy component of the same programme, financing replacement of 106 km of district heating pipelines.

Both tranches sit within a EUR 1.3bn investment programme covering urban mobility and energy supply across a metropolitan area of more than two million people.

Fleet procurement still to be tendered

The 63 new light rail vehicles represent the programme’s largest single procurement decision. Bucharest’s annual procurement plan lists an estimated tender window of January to June 2026 for the vehicles, but no tender has been launched.

The city’s most recent fleet addition — 100 Imperio units delivered between 2022 and 2024 by a consortium of Romanian manufacturer Astra Vagoane Călători and CRRC Qingdao Sifang — gives the new procurement a recent reference point, but the tender will open a fresh competition.

SWITZERLAND: The Federal Office of Transport (FOT) has proposed a minimum revenue threshold for subsidised regional rail services — high-frequency routes must cover at least 30% of costs from their own revenue or lose federal funding from 2029/2030.

The FOT has opened a public consultation on the measure, which applies to services running more frequently than every 30 minutes. Routes that fall below the threshold face a choice: cut frequency to meet the existing 20% cost-coverage requirement, or lose federal subsidy.

The proposal targets services where cantonal and operator decisions have kept frequency high without corresponding commercial return. Routes that limit service to half-hourly intervals remain under the current 20% threshold.

Revenue floor targets high-frequency services from 2029/2030

The threshold applies to the ordering period beginning in 2029/2030, when cantonal authorities and operators will need to demonstrate that high-frequency services generate sufficient revenue to meet the 30% floor. The existing 20% requirement remains in place for routes operating at half-hourly intervals or less.

Federal and cantonal governments share the cost of Switzerland’s regional passenger rail network. The federal government’s contribution runs at around CHF 1.1 billion per year, supporting commercially weak routes across the country.

The FOT says the measure will create an incentive for operators and cantonal authorities to improve profitability. Both will have the option of reducing service frequency to retain federal support under the existing threshold.

Budget pressure drives the threshold

The proposal sits within a broader Swiss federal budget consolidation. The Federal Council’s relief package 27 includes a 5% reduction in planned uncovered costs for regional passenger transport from 2027 — part of a spending reduction plan targeting between CHF 2.7 billion and CHF 3.6 billion from the federal budget.

The revenue threshold adds a financial condition to that plan: routes that cannot demonstrate commercial return face a direct choice before the next ordering cycle begins.

The public consultation runs until 29 May. No decision has been taken.

FRANCE: The French Senate has voted to require SNCF Connect to sell tickets from competing rail operators by the end of 2027, a structural shift in French rail distribution with direct consequences for open access operators including Trenitalia and Renfe.

The Senate passed the new distribution rule on 16 April. The full transport framework bill cleared its final Senate vote on 28 April by 310 to 19, and now passes to the Assemblée nationale for its first reading.

The rule is not yet law. The lower house can confirm it unchanged, amend it, or remove it entirely — sending the text back into negotiations between the two chambers.

Distribution gap the new rule targets

SNCF Connect handles around 85% of online rail ticket sales in France. Trenitalia and Renfe have operated open access services in France since 2021 and 2023 respectively, but neither carrier’s tickets are available through the platform. The absence limits their visibility to the majority of French rail passengers at the point of purchase.

The new distribution rule would close that gap by the end of 2027, requiring SNCF Connect to integrate competing operators’ inventory under the same roof as SNCF’s own services.

The measure was tabled by the Senate’s spatial planning committee, not the government. Transport minister Philippe Tabarot backed it, saying he favoured simplifying the digital journey for users. AFRA, the association representing alternative operators, had called for exactly this obligation — arguing that non-discriminatory access to the dominant distribution platform is a structural condition for viable competition.

Opposing camps on either side

SNCF Voyageurs opposed the provision. Several senators from the right and centre raised concerns about its effect on rail system financing, noting that a significant share of ticketing revenue funds network maintenance.

The independent distributors grouped under ADN Mobilités — including Trainline, Omio and Kombo — also lobbied against it. Their concern is the reverse: mandatory integration into SNCF Connect strengthens the platform’s position at the expense of third-party aggregators who currently provide the only cross-operator booking option in France.

The Senate text includes a separate provision establishing a passenger right to continued travel in the event of a missed connection, provided the journey was booked as a single ticket across operators. The measure would apply from the same end-2027 deadline.

The Assemblée nationale has yet to schedule its first reading of the transport framework bill.

The European Commission's ruling that Chinese supplier CRRC had to leave the Lisbon metro consortium settled the question of fair competition — or at least, a specific version of it. It said nothing about whether the price was right, whether European suppliers could have matched it, or whether China's rail industry has simply become better than Europe's.

By Dan Jensen

The consortium’s bid remained at EUR 598.8 million after CRRC was removed and Pesa substituted. The Commission accepted the swap as sufficient.

If the case had been about price level, that outcome would make no sense. What changed was not the number — it was the traceability of the state support behind it.

FSR is not a price instrument

The Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is not a price instrument. It does not ask whether a bid is low. It asks whether state support from outside the EU gave a company an advantage that cannot be traced or assessed

In Lisbon, the Commission identified three distinct forms of state support to the CRRC group:

• The Chinese state awarded CRRC contracts in China exceeding EUR 36 billion over three years — at a scale that raises questions about whether the company operates as a market actor or a state instrument

• Approximately EUR 471 million in direct state transfers

• A preferential corporate tax rate of 15 percent against a standard 25 percent

The question was not whether CRRC was the strongest competitor. It was whether the competition had been fair.

“Distortive foreign subsidies”

The obvious challenge to this logic arrived quickly in the debate that followed. Pesa, the Polish manufacturer brought in as replacement, is itself extensively state-backed. Poland’s state development fund PFR controls the company.

In December 2025 Pesa signed a financing agreement of up to PLN 6.8 billion (approximately EUR 1.6 billion) with a consortium of more than 20 Polish and international financial institutions, covering long-term investment, working capital and performance guarantees for existing and future contracts.

The Commission’s response to this is precise. It cleared Pesa on the grounds that the Polish manufacturer had not received “distortive foreign subsidies.” The operative word is foreign, not the absence of state support.

Pesa’s backing falls within the EU state aid framework:

• Member states must notify aid plans to the Commission before implementing them

• Awards above EUR 100,000 are published in a public register

• Competitors can challenge decisions before the General Court.

None of those mechanisms applied to state support from outside the EU. The FSR was designed precisely to close that gap.

This is not a claim that EU state aid rules produce perfectly equal outcomes. It is a structural point: One form of state support operates within a framework of defined rules — compliance can be monitored and challenged. The other can take any form, at any scale, with no mechanism for scrutiny or challenge.

European industrial weakness?

There is a separate argument in the Lisbon debate that deserves to be taken seriously on its own terms. It goes like this: CRRC would have won even without the subsidies. European suppliers are too expensive, too slow and too protected. The real problem is not Chinese state support — it is European industrial weakness.

The procurement record gives that argument some force. Lisbon’s first tender collapsed — every bid averaged 46 percent above the ceiling. After the budget was raised by EUR 150 million, four consortia bid again. Only one came in below the new EUR 600 million ceiling — the consortium with CRRC as rolling-stock subcontractor. The next cheapest option matched the ceiling exactly.

The FSR ruling does not address that record. It establishes whether a specific distortion occurred. Whether European suppliers could have matched the price without it is a different question entirely.

The Westbahn case

Westbahn, the Austrian open-access operator that brought CRRC double-deck units into scheduled service on the Vienna–Salzburg corridor in November 2025, made its position explicit: the European rolling-stock market is an oligopoly — too few suppliers, too little competition, rising costs and long delivery queues.

That assessment stands regardless of the FSR ruling in Lisbon.

Straightforward protectionism?

The Lisbon decision is the first time the FSR has been run to a final substantive outcome in a public procurement case.

Any EU tender above EUR 250 million where participants have received foreign financial contributions of at least EUR 4 million per non-EU country over the preceding three years is subject to mandatory notification and potential investigation.

What the decision does not do is fix European supplier capacity, compress delivery timelines or address the pricing dynamics that produced a collapsed first tender. Those are industrial policy questions. The FSR is a competition instrument.

CRRC is not formally banned from EU tenders. But the subsidy structure the Commission documented in Lisbon is structural — it does not change between bids.

The next time CRRC bids above the threshold, the Commission will be starting from a position it has already investigated. That makes a second exclusion significantly easier to reach.

Many saw the ruling as straightforward protectionism. FSR rules require a simpler test: could the state support behind the bids be mapped and assessed?

For the lowest bid, the Commission found it could not.

Sources:

The Lisbon case — primary sources

European Commission, 21 April 2026 — IP/26/853: Commission clears Lisbon railway line bid under FSR, subject to conditions https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_853

Official Journal of the EU, 27 November 2025 — OJ C/2025/6441: Summary notice of in-depth investigation (FSP.103117)
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:C_202506441

Metropolitano de Lisboa, 21 July 2025 — Bids submitted for the Violet Line https://projetos.metrolisboa.pt/expansao/linha-violeta/

FSR framework and precedent

Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 — Foreign Subsidies Regulation
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R2560

Related:

Newag’s Impuls trains — one of Poland’s most widely deployed modern regional train families — began locking up in 2022 when sent to independent maintenance, disabled by software embedded in the onboard computers to trigger at rival repair yards.

Koleje Dolnośląskie, a regional operator in Lower Silesia, sent four Impuls electric multiple units to independent maintenance firm SPS for scheduled servicing in spring 2022. The trains would not restart after the work was completed.

SPS eventually engaged Dragon Sector, a Polish cybersecurity group, which reverse-engineered the onboard software and found GPS-triggered lockout code targeting the locations of independent repair facilities — including one that had not yet been built.

How the lockout code worked

The Impuls 45WE is a standard-gauge regional EMU running across Poland’s busiest suburban and regional corridors. Its onboard computers manage traction, braking and door systems. They also, Dragon Sector found, contained code that had no place in any maintenance manual.

The lockout conditions operated in two ways. The first combined a prolonged stop with GPS data confirming the train’s location within the boundaries of an independent repair yard.

The second was independent of location: a train would also disable itself after being stationary for more than ten days — a threshold Dragon Sector assessed as intended to flag maintenance activity, but which also triggered on trains parked in operator sheds with no servicing taking place.

The GPS coordinates embedded in the code were not generic. Dragon Sector identified at least seven targeted facilities, including the Bydgoszcz site of Pesa — a competing Polish rolling stock manufacturer. One set of coordinates pointed to an SPS facility that had not yet been constructed when the software was written.

Additional triggers locked trains if a replaced component carried a serial number not approved by Newag, or after reaching one million kilometres — the threshold at which mandatory heavy maintenance falls due under Polish regulations, and at which operators are most likely to seek competitive servicing bids.

The discovery

SPS had won the maintenance contract for eleven Impuls units belonging to Koleje Dolnośląskie after submitting a bid approximately EUR 700,000 lower than Newag’s, according to Dragon Sector’s account of the procurement.

When the first trains failed to restart after servicing in spring 2022, SPS faced contractual penalties from Koleje Dolnośląskie that Dragon Sector reported as eventually reaching 2 million zloty — approximately EUR 462,000. The trains showed no fault indication. The diagnostic systems reported nothing wrong.

An SPS engineer ran a Google search for Polish hackers. He found Dragon Sector.

Three members of the group began working through the onboard software. The process took months. What they found was not a bug or a corrupted system. It was deliberate conditional logic: rules written to produce failures under defined circumstances, with the circumstances defined by the location and identity of whoever was doing the maintenance.

Dragon Sector eventually analysed 30 trains across five operators — Koleje Dolnośląskie, Koleje Mazowieckie, SKM Warszawa, WKD and Polregio. Twenty-four carried software locks. The group developed a tool to remove them.

The scale of the unlocking operation revealed something else. Polregio, Poland’s largest regional passenger operator, disclosed it had been paying Newag approximately EUR 23,000 per train to restore functionality. The process took Newag technicians around ten minutes.

Newag’s response

Newag denied the allegations from the outset. The company said the failures were caused by SPS malpractice. It suggested Dragon Sector had inserted the lockout code itself. It stated that its trains had never contained such software. It demanded that Poland’s Internal Security Agency place under surveillance everyone who attended the conference where Dragon Sector presented its findings.

The findings were presented publicly on 5 December 2023 at the OhMyH@ck conference in Warsaw, and again at the 37th Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg on 27 December. CERT Polska, the national cybersecurity authority, assessed Dragon Sector’s conclusions as trustworthy.

Poland’s Internal Security Agency had in fact submitted a case to the prosecutor’s office in Nowy Sącz — Newag’s home city — as early as October 2022. The office initially downplayed the matter.

After the public disclosure, the investigation was transferred to the regional prosecutor in Kraków, where it proceeds under articles of the Polish Penal Code covering computer sabotage and fraud.

The Polish parliament convened three committee hearings between January and March 2024. Newag representatives attended but did not explain how the lockout code came to be present in trains across five operators and multiple production batches.

Newag filed civil suits in two courts. In Warsaw, it is seeking PLN 6,453,000 — approximately EUR 1.5 million — for copyright infringement and unlawful competition. In Gdańsk, it is seeking PLN 5,100,000 — approximately EUR 1.2 million — for unlawful competition and infringement of personal rights.

The first hearing at the District Court of Warsaw was held on 28 August 2024. At that hearing, Newag conceded that Dragon Sector had not modified the software on the trains. The lawsuit continues on the basis of unauthorised access and analysis.

What the case means for rail maintenance

The Newag case is not the first time a manufacturer has used software to restrict independent repair. In the United States, agricultural equipment maker John Deere has deployed similar mechanisms under digital copyright law to prevent farmers from servicing their own machinery.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal involved software written to produce different outputs under test conditions than under normal operation — manipulation embedded in systems that regulators had no routine means of inspecting.

What distinguishes the Newag case in a rail context is the direct operational consequence. Trains did not pass or fail an emissions test differently. They stopped running. Passengers were stranded. Operators faced penalties for failures they could not diagnose and had not caused.

The European rail maintenance market operates on the assumption that operators can use competitive servicing providers. Framework contracts, public procurement rules and rolling stock lease structures are built around that assumption.

Software that disables a train when it enters a rival’s facility works against the market structure that procurement law is designed to protect. The Polish antitrust authority opened its own investigation alongside the criminal proceedings.

No verdict has been issued in the civil case as of May 2026.

Newag today

The legal proceedings have not disrupted Newag’s commercial position. In May 2024, PKP Intercity awarded the manufacturer a contract worth PLN 3.36 billion — approximately EUR 800 million — for 35 hybrid dual-mode multiple units, the largest single order in the company’s history.

In January 2026, Newag and Siemens Mobility signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on high-speed rolling stock for the Polish market. The MoU followed PKP Intercity’s launch of a tender for up to 55 trains capable of operating at 320 km/h.

Newag and Siemens have worked together for fifteen years, beginning with the Warsaw Metro Inspiro contract in 2011. Newag does not currently manufacture high-speed trains. The civil case remains before the Warsaw court.

Italo sets May deadline for German HSR entry

GERMANY: Italian open-access operator Italo has told infrastructure manager DB InfraGO it needs train path confirmation by end of May — or a June contract signing with Siemens for 26 high-speed trains becomes impossible and the project collapses.

The bottleneck is access, not equipment. DB InfraGO must confirm train paths and station slots across 18 cities before the EUR 1.2bn Siemens order can be signed — and the June date cannot move without pushing delivery beyond the point where 2028 services remain viable.

Italo holds a German operating licence but not yet a safety certificate. The sequence is sequential: access confirmation, then contract, then delivery — with no slack built in.

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Spain pushes for faster rolling stock approval across EU

EU: Spain’s transport minister has warned that the manufacture, delivery and commissioning of new rolling stock can take six to seven years — and proposed concrete fixes at an informal meeting of European transport ministers in Nicosia.

The Nicosia meeting on 29 April carried no decision-making powers. Puente’s three proposals — greater regulatory awareness, stronger independent assessments, and expanded testing infrastructure — align with ERA’s own diagnosis of the problem.

No follow-up steps were formalised. Puente indicated he expected the issues to be addressed at subsequent ministerial sessions.

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FS Group validates GoA4 automation on European rail network

ITALY: FS Group has demonstrated Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) — fully automated train operation — on European Train Control System (ETCS) infrastructure at its Bologna test ring, confirming that automatic driving, remote operation and obstacle detection can function as an integrated architecture on ETCS-equipped infrastructure.

The 27 April tests used a Hitachi Blues tri-mode unit on the 5.7 km San Donato ring — an RFI facility with ETCS Level 2 wayside infrastructure. Operational staff were on board throughout, as required under test conditions.

The demonstration forms part of the EUR 160.8m FP2-R2DATO programme under Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, targeting scalable automation at up to GoA4 on existing networks.

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PKP Cargo agrees with SSRST on military wagon production

POLAND: PKP Cargo has agreed a partnership with South Korean rolling stock manufacturer Sung Shin Rolling Stock Technology (SSRST) to develop and produce wagons for heavy military equipment in Poland, linking the programme explicitly to EU and NATO military mobility requirements.

The cooperation agreement, signed 27 April, runs for 12 months. Szczecin Port Centralny has been identified as the potential production site; detailed investment and financing arrangements are to be negotiated within that window.

PKP Cargo is currently undergoing restructuring proceedings in Poland, which do not affect its operational capacity or ability to enter commercial agreements.

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Key German freight corridors to close this spring

GERMANY: The two main northern rail freight corridors will operate under simultaneous restrictions from 1 May, as the Hamburg–Hannover line enters a ten-week maintenance shutdown while the Hamburg–Berlin corridor remains out of service pending a delayed reopening.

The most acute period runs from 15 May to 14 June, when both arteries are constrained simultaneously. Both constraints lift on 14 June, when Hamburg–Berlin reopens fully; Hamburg–Hannover returns to full service on 10 July.

Freight will divert via three alternative routes, adding distance and time to journeys already running on constrained capacity since August 2025.

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GERMANY: Italian open-access operator Italo has told infrastructure manager DB InfraGO it needs train path confirmation by end of May — or a June contract signing with Siemens for 26 high-speed trains becomes impossible and the project collapses.

CEO Gianbattista La Rocca told Il Sole 24 Ore on 29 April that the Siemens contract — covering 26 trains plus a 14-unit option, with delivery targeted for mid-2028 — cannot be postponed without causing delays that would make the company’s planned high-speed services on the Munich–Cologne–Dortmund and Munich–Berlin–Hamburg corridors unviable.

Italo established a German subsidiary in 2025 and obtained a passenger operator’s licence in 2025 after applying in October, but is still in the process of obtaining a safety certificate. Without confirmed train paths and station slots from DB InfraGO, the EUR 1.2bn procurement order cannot proceed to signature.

The deadline sequence

DB InfraGO must confirm access — train paths and station slots across a planned network of 18 cities and 1,300 kilometres — before the Siemens contract can be signed. La Rocca said the June signing date cannot move: a delay would extend delivery times to a point where the project becomes unviable.

The full investment totals EUR 3.6bn, covering train purchase, 30 years of maintenance, staff training, station investments and IT infrastructure. Italo plans 50 daily services across the two corridors, with first trains in service by mid-2028.

Open access as the model

Italo is Italy’s only private open-access high-speed operator, competing with state-owned Trenitalia since 2012. La Rocca has held up the Italian experience as the template for Germany, arguing that competition has doubled demand on Italy’s high-speed network to more than 60 million passengers a year and pushed fares down 40% — with both operators remaining profitable.

Germany’s long-distance rail market carries 110–120 million passengers annually, La Rocca told Il Sole 24 Ore, with the company projecting at least 40% further growth if competition is introduced.

The company says ongoing German network modernisation works are not a concern — it expects to be fully operational by the time the infrastructure programme concludes.

EU: Spain’s transport minister has warned that the manufacture, delivery and commissioning of new rolling stock can take six to seven years — and proposed concrete fixes at an informal meeting of European transport ministers in Nicosia.

Óscar Puente made the remarks at the Informal Council of Transport Ministers in Nicosia on 29 April, warning that the timeline is a structural obstacle to fleet renewal across the bloc.

The call puts EU-level pressure on a process that currently sits with national safety authorities and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA).

Three causes, three proposals

Puente’s diagnosis aligned with ERA’s own assessment: fragmented regulation, excessively slow procedures, and a rolling stock industry with limited capacity to fulfil orders.

His proposals were correspondingly direct. He called for greater regulatory awareness among industry and authorities, stronger and more reliable independent assessments to support national safety bodies, and expanded dedicated testing infrastructure.

On the last point, Spain has its own case in hand. Puente referenced the test circuit in Antequera, Málaga — a facility first tendered in 2013 and halted after the procurement failed to attract bids, and announced for revival in July 2025.

No decisions, but common ground

The Nicosia meeting was informal and carried no decision-making powers. Puente described the exchange as productive and said he found common ground with ERA’s position on the problem.

“It is gratifying to find common ground with the European Railway Agency’s vision,” he said. “Today we have reason for optimism.”

Next steps were not formalised. Puente expressed hope that the improvements could be addressed in subsequent ministerial sessions

ITALY: FS Group has demonstrated Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) — fully automated train operation — on European Train Control System (ETCS) infrastructure at its Bologna test ring, confirming that automatic driving, remote operation and obstacle detection can function as an integrated architecture on ETCS-equipped infrastructure.

The 27 April demonstration, held at the San Donato ring in Bologna, brought together European railway stakeholders under the EU’s FP2-R2DATO research programme.

What the Bologna tests validated

Three functions were validated during the demonstration. Automatic Train Operation (ATO) over ETCS verified the integration between automation modules and onboard and trackside subsystems, with the train managing acceleration, speed and braking within the ETCS safety framework.

Remote driving allowed an operator to control the train from an external workstation replicating the driver’s cab — a function designed for manoeuvring, testing and degraded-mode operations.

The third function was obstacle detection: dedicated sensors identify objects or persons on the track and trigger supervised braking to a controlled stop.

The test vehicle and infrastructure

A Hitachi Blues tri-mode multiple unit, provided by Trenitalia, was fitted with the full GoA4 component set following the FP2-R2DATO reference architecture. The San Donato ring — a 5.7 km facility built by RFI on a former Bologna freight yard — provides ETCS Level 2 wayside infrastructure and allows 24-hour test operations.

The demonstration was conducted with operational staff on board, as required under test conditions, and was attended by representatives of CIFI, the Italian railway engineers’ association, alongside Europe’s Rail partners and project participants.

FP2-R2DATO and the path to deployment

The Bologna work forms part of Work Package 39, Subtask 39.2, led by Italian infrastructure manager RFI with contributions from Trenitalia and Hitachi. FP2-R2DATO — Rail to Digital and Automated Train Operations — is a EUR 160.8m Horizon Europe initiative managed by Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, bringing together 77 partners and targeting 350 deliverables.

The programme targets scalable automation at up to GoA4 level to increase capacity and punctuality on existing networks.

POLAND: PKP Cargo has agreed a partnership with South Korean rolling stock manufacturer Sung Shin Rolling Stock Technology (SSRST) to develop and produce wagons for heavy military equipment in Poland, linking the programme explicitly to EU and NATO military mobility requirements.

The two companies signed a cooperation agreement on 27 April establishing a framework for design work, investment negotiation and financing arrangements for the joint programme.

PKP Cargo will contribute facilities and workforce capacity for wagon assembly and production; Szczecin Port Centralny has been identified as the potential production site. The agreement runs for 12 months.

Framework targets defence mobility gap

SSRST will bring rolling stock manufacturing expertise to the conceptual design phase. The South Korean manufacturer has no existing European production footprint; the agreement is structured to establish one in Poland.

The programme targets a gap that has grown more visible since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Europe lacks dedicated rail wagons produced at scale for NATO-standard heavy military equipment. Existing flat wagon fleets were not designed with defence mobility specifications as a primary requirement.

EU military mobility policy has accelerated pressure on member states to develop rail infrastructure and rolling stock capable of moving armoured and heavy equipment across borders quickly enough to meet operational requirements.

PKP Cargo brings assets, not balance sheet

PKP Cargo is currently undergoing restructuring proceedings in Poland. The sanacja process does not affect the company’s operational capacity or its ability to enter commercial agreements, but detailed investment commitments under the programme will require negotiation within the 12-month framework window.

The company is Europe’s second-largest rail freight operator by transport performance and holds significant real estate and workforce assets at rail hubs across Poland — the basis for its contribution to the joint programme.

Szczecin as production anchor

Szczecin Port Centralny sits within the Ecological Industrial District — Kaszubia and offers direct rail connectivity to both the Polish network and Baltic port infrastructure.

Detailed cooperation agreements, investment structures and financing arrangements are to be negotiated before the framework expires.

GERMANY: The two main northern rail freight corridors will operate under simultaneous restrictions from 1 May, as the Hamburg–Hannover line enters a ten-week maintenance shutdown while the Hamburg–Berlin corridor remains out of service pending a delayed reopening.

The Hamburg–Hannover line has served as the primary diversion route for freight displaced by the Hamburg–Berlin closure since August 2025. DB InfraGO confirmed the scheduling conflict after winter frost extended the Berlin works by six weeks, pushing full reopening to 14 June.

The Celle–Hannover section closes from 1 May; the full Lüneburg–Hannover segment follows from 14 June. Hamburg–Berlin reopens in two stages — northern section from 15 May, full corridor from 14 June — leaving a period in which both arteries are simultaneously constrained. Industry body Die Güterbahnen has warned of significant financial consequences for freight operators.

Freight operators flag costs and cancellations

The Hamburg–Hannover corridor connects Hamburg — Germany’s largest container port — to rail routes serving central, eastern and southern Europe, with roughly one in four freight wagons travelling to or from Hamburg passing through it. With that route closing, freight will be diverted via Hamburg–Verden–Hannover, Hamburg–Uelzen–Stendal and Hamburg–Schwerin–Neustrelitz–Berlin, adding distance and time to journeys that have already been running on constrained capacity since August 2025.

Die Güterbahnen, the umbrella body for private freight operators, has warned that the economic impact will be substantial. The organisation had flagged the timing conflict when Hamburg–Hannover plans were confirmed, noting that the two corridors were designed to serve as mutual diversions — a sequencing that the Berlin delay has now broken.

The corridor’s fragility under load was demonstrated on 31 March, when an overhead line failure between Bad Bevensen and Uelzen closed Hamburg–Hannover entirely for around 18 hours. Freight operator METRANS reported that Germany was accepting no inbound or outbound trains during the disruption, with services to and from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, the Balkans and Poland all affected.

Scope reduced as DB manages conflict

DB InfraGO has cut the Hamburg–Hannover works back from their original scope, limiting renewal to approximately 66 kilometres of track, 36 switches and two kilometres of overhead line. Remaining work has been deferred to a full corridor renovation planned for 2029. DB describes the reduced programme as covering the essential repairs given the diversion constraints.

The most acute capacity pressure falls between 15 May and 14 June. From 15 May, the northern Hamburg–Berlin section reopens as far as Hagenow Land, allowing some freight diversion via Schwerin — but the Lüneburg–Hannover section remains closed until the full Hamburg–Berlin corridor reopens on 14 June. Both constraints lift simultaneously on that date.

Hamburg–Hannover returns to full service on 10 July.

Hungary appoints rail reformer as transport minister

HUNGARY: Budapest transport chief Dávid Vitézy has been nominated as Hungary’s minister of transport, giving the incoming Magyar government a reform-oriented operator with a direct mandate over MÁV and EU rail funding.

Vitézy’s immediate task is twofold: stabilising MÁV, which has not acquired new vehicles in years and is entering another difficult operating summer, and restoring access to EU infrastructure funds frozen under the previous government.

The appointment marks a structural shift in how Hungary approaches rail governance — from political management to operational accountability.

Magyar’s government is not yet formally in office.

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CPK launches second HSR tender on Warsaw–Łódź line

POLAND: CPK has launched its second optimise-and-build tender for Poland’s planned high-speed rail network, part of the country’s flagship infrastructure programme combining a new central airport with a high-speed rail connection west of Warsaw.

The procurement covers a 14.3 km section between the Airport Junction and Bolimów on Line 85, with expressions of interest due by 12 June. Three further tenders remain before the full Warsaw–Łódź corridor is under contract.

Line 85 will operate at 350 km/h on 25 kV AC — a new traction standard for Poland, which currently runs on 3 kV DC nationwide.

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Industry: Too few ETCS suppliers, no explanation for high prices

EU: Europe’s rail supply associations disagree with the European Commission’s explanation for why on-board signalling costs have doubled. The EU Commission believes there are too few suppliers and this is negatively affecting the market.

The cost of fitting a train with ETCS on-board equipment rose from around EUR 450,000 to EUR 900,000 per vehicle between 2018 and 2022. UNIFE and its signalling arm UNISIG attribute the increase to national specification variants and interface complexity, not supplier concentration.

The disagreement was set out at the ERA ERTMS conference in Valenciennes on 24 April. The diagnosis determines the remedy — and with roughly 10% of the TEN-T network equipped with ETCS trackside infrastructure, the stakes for deployment policy are material.

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Belgium diverts EUR 124.5m from two delayed rail projects

BELGIUM: Belgian infrastructure manager Infrabel has redirected EUR 124.5m from two stalled projects — Rail Ghent-Terneuzen and the Antwerpen-Berchem redevelopment — into a new investment package backed by European subsidies.

Rail Ghent-Terneuzen loses EUR 87.5m and Antwerpen-Berchem loses EUR 37m, with both original projects pushed to 2030 at the earliest. The reallocation was confirmed by transport minister Jean-Luc Crucke on 24 April.

The freed capital is redistributed across battery infrastructure, port connectivity, station accessibility and ETCS upgrades, drawing EUR 52m in European subsidies.

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Has Europe misunderstood diesel’s necessary comeback?

COMMENTARY: On 14 April, a defective bracket on Denmark’s main Zealand corridor hung centimetres below its nominal height and progressively damaged the pantographs of more than 30 trainsets over eight hours — a civil failure that exposes the vulnerability: the continent has no reliable fallback at scale when the electrified network goes down.

The freight sector has not waited for policy. Stadler’s EuroDual reached 100 units delivered in September 2025; Siemens’ Vectron Dual Mode is operating in volume across DB Cargo’s fleet. The market is moving toward dual-mode capacity — while EU taxonomy rules continue to treat diesel-capable traction as outside the sustainable investment classification, regardless of emissions standard.

CER has called explicitly for EU funding of dual-mode locomotives for military mobility. The political level has not followed.

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