1. Direct Eurostar Amsterdam - London.

The direct Eurostar Amsterdam - London has started running from the spring of 2018. It's fantastic that this direct train has finally started running . Every five minutes a plane from the Netherlands to London leaves, but now everyone can go by train to the heart of the city. 

2. More and more direct freight trains from China to Western Europe

From Yiwu to Prague in 15 days. Dalian - Bratislava. An amazing amount of 23,000 containers went from Dalian to Western Europe in 2017 alone. Also, a weekly train from Weihai to Duisburg has started running. A train between Zhengzhou and Hamburg now runs daily. Passenger traveling by train still only need one transfer in Moscow to get to China. 

3. Medical train

A medical train comes once a year to hospitals that are far away with the Baikal Amur Railway. In remote villages along the 4300 km long railway between Lake Baikal and Amur, which opened in 1984, the Sint Lucas train stops once a year with 17 doctors, X-ray equipment, EEG and laboratory equipment in most villages. There's also a coach decorated as a holy cathedral on board.

4. Deutsche Bahn on green electricity

Since 1 January 2018, all Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains have started running on green electricity.

5. Fyra

Trenitalia has bought 17 of the original 19 Fyra trains from the Dutch Railways. These trains are have been refurbished and have started running since June 2018 as Frecciargento between Rome and Bari.