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Alstom has taken the rail hydrogen fuel-cell business of Cummins in-house, concluding a deal that underscores how Europe's flagship alternative-traction programme is shifting from a growth story to a maintenance commitment. The French train manufacturer confirmed on 2 April that it had acquired the engineering, product and support operations supplying fuel cells for its Coradia iLint trains, including the Herten assembly site in north-west Germany and the Hydrogenics entity t

Germany's state rail operator books a second consecutive billion-euro loss, with no quick fix in sight Deutsche Bahn ended 2025 with a net loss of 2.3 billion euros, widening from 1.8 billion euros the previous year, as decades of underinvestment in Germany's rail network continued to erode the group's finances and test the patience of its passengers. The headline figure was heavily shaped by a 1.4 billion euro impairment charge at DB Long-Distance, reflecting reduced revenue

Germany's state railway is carrying more passengers than ever and losing money at scale. Deutsche Bahn posted a net loss of €2.3 billion for 2025, the company confirmed in late March, a result that lays bare the tension at the heart of one of Europe's most ambitious infrastructure programmes. Group revenues rose 3% to around €27 billion and operating profit returned to positive territory at €297 million, but those headline figures were overwhelmed by a €1.4 billion writedown

Spain's state-owned rail operator Renfe has surrendered its capacity reservations on the Paris corridor, formally ending years of failed attempts to bring its Talgo-built Avril trains onto one of Europe's busiest high-speed routes. The withdrawal, confirmed to AFP and announced on 1 April, draws a line under an ambition that has defined Renfe's international strategy for the better part of a decade. The operator told the French news agency it could not establish a stable hori

Germany's state-owned railway has reported a net loss of €2.3 billion for 2025, widening from €1.8 billion the previous year, in results that lay bare the structural rot at the heart of Europe's largest rail network and raise fresh questions about Germany's ability to deliver on its green transport ambitions. A write-down of approximately €1.4 billion at DB Fernverkehr, the long-distance passenger division, drove the headline loss, with the company citing lower revenue expect

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have launched a joint tender for up to 20 high-speed regional trains to run on the Rail Baltica corridor, pressing ahead with rolling stock procurement even as the infrastructure those trains are meant to serve remains years from completion. The tender, published in mid-March, covers electric multiple units capable of 200 kilometres per hour on the European standard gauge. Estonia is leading the initial order with five trains and an option for tw

A Dutch startup is betting that cheap tickets and guaranteed seats can do to trains what budget airlines did to flying. GoVolta, a privately held rail operator founded in Breda, launched its first international services from Amsterdam to Berlin and Hamburg on 19 and 20 March respectively, entering a market long dominated by state-backed incumbents and pitching itself as the first genuinely low-cost alternative to both the plane and the car on the North Sea-to-Germany corridor

European Sleeper launches its Paris-Berlin sleeper as public operators retreat The overnight train that left Paris Gare du Nord on Thursday evening carried with it more than the usual assortment of travellers seeking a cheaper path to the German capital. It carried a question about the future architecture of European rail: as state operators retreat from unprofitable routes, who fills the void? European Sleeper's first departure on the Paris-Berlin route ran on 26 March 2026,

A Dutch startup wants to do to the train what easyJet did to the plane. Investors and incumbents are watching. A new operator quietly pulled out of Amsterdam Centraal last week and, in doing so, accelerated a debate that has been building across European transport policy for years: why does a flight from Amsterdam to Berlin still cost less than the train? GoVolta launched its inaugural Amsterdam–Berlin service on 19 March, followed a day later by an Amsterdam–Hamburg route, w

Brussels, 19 March 2026 — In one week's time, a small Belgian-Dutch cooperative will attempt something that Europe's state railways decided was no longer worth the trouble. On 26 March, European Sleeper launches its Paris–Berlin night train, reviving a route abandoned by Austrian national operator ÖBB after the French government withdrew its funding subsidy at the end of last year. The optics are striking. Where a state-backed giant retreated, a startup is advancing — and th

China's CRRC has cracked Western Europe's long-distance rail network. The question now is whether Siemens and Alstom can respond — or whether Brussels will simply close the door. When Austria's private open-access operator Westbahn quietly rolled four Chinese-built double-deckers onto the Vienna–Salzburg corridor last November, many in the European rail industry hoped the story would fade. It has not. As Westbahn simultaneously announces a high-speed expansion southward throu

A Czech open-access operator has drawn the sharpest battle lines yet in Poland's long-running rail liberalisation fight, launching commercial services on the country's most strategically important domestic corridor. Leo Express began regular services on the Warsaw–Kraków route on 1 March 2026, becoming the first private challenger to take on state incumbent PKP Intercity on a corridor that functions as the spine of Poland's intercity network. Until now, PKP Intercity has effe