As of August 1, Deutsche Bahn (DB) will be the world’s first Intermodal Partner of Star Alliance. With this, DB and the aviation industry are sending another strong signal for the environment-friendly evolution of the travel industry.

Teleste Corporation has announced that its subsidiary Teleste Information Solutions has signed a frame agreement with Deutsche Bahn.

European railways are often portrayed as a deeply conservative industry, so far unaffected by the disruptive competition and subsequent consolidation seen in the aviation sector. With national providers apparently safe in domestic markets there seems to be little catalyst for change. But with technology developing rapidly and start-ups taking advantage of European Union liberalisation to launch new routes the old model may well be about to break down. Breaking Travel News editor Chris O’Toole reports from the Amadeus Rail Forum 2014.

After three years of detailed study, the Intergovernmental Commission has granted Deutsche Bahn an operating certificate to run passenger services through the Channel Tunnel. Groupe Eurotunnel believes that this long awaited decision will considerably enhance exchanges between the United Kingdom and northern Europe and will over time add between three and four million new passengers per year to the ten million already using the existing high speed passenger services.

More and more travelers in Germany are deciding in favor of Deutsche Bahn trains. During the first six months of 2012 the number of passengers (excluding Arriva) rose over the same year-ago figure by almost 40 million to over one billion, or about four percent.

Alstom Transport will manufacture 28 Coradia Continental regional trains for the German operator Deutsche Bahn Regio NRW GmbH. The contract is worth approximately €140 million. This is the first stage of the frame contract signed in 2011 with DB Regio for the delivery of up to 400 trains.