All coronavirus articles
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Rail Business UKScotRail makes changes to reflect reduced demand
UK: ScotRail is to reduce the length of some trains from January 18, reflecting the significant reduction in demand as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions as well as staffing shortages caused by the pandemic. Further changes may be implemented following a more thorough review of ...
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Rail Business UK
It’s right to change timetables in ‘a challenging environment’, says GWR MD Hopwood
UK: The need to adapt timetables to cope with reduced demand as well as increased staff absences as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is creating a ‘very challenging environment’, Great Western Railway Managing Director Mark Hopwood has told Rail Business UK . ‘Normally as ...
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Rail Business UK
Temporary train service reductions aim to provide deliverable and resilient timetables
UK: Passenger train operators are to reduce services in response to the latest coronavirus lockdown, but a different approach is being taken to last year. Service levels will be approximately 72% of pre-pandemic levels, down from the 87% operated since the government’s announcement of the latest ...
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In depth
Policy: Passenger rail in the age of coronavirus
The rail sector continues to grapple with the implications of a drastic drop in ridership and the need to deploy extensive Covid-19 mitigation measures. However, the passenger experience is not uniform around the world: Mike Bent presents a snapshot of reports from Japan, Spain and Poland.
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Metro Report International
Additional support for Edinburgh Trams and Glasgow Subway
UK: The Scottish Government has announced a further £8m of emergency funding for the Glasgow Subway and Edinburgh Trams in response to the on-going financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The third tranche of funding announced on December 23 runs until the end of March. An ...
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Rail Business UK
Grand Central suspends services until March 1
UK: Following the government’s announcement of a third national lockdown in England, London to West Yorkshire and Sunderland open access operator Grand Central said it would be suspending all its services from January 9 until March 1. ‘It is hugely disappointing for us to be starting ...
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Rail Business UK
Hull Trains suspends services for a third time
UK: East Yorkshire to London open access operator Hull Trains is to temporarily suspend all services from 00.01 on January 9, following the government’s announcement of a third coronavirus lockdown in England. As an open access operator, FirstGroup subsidiary Hull Trains is not eligible for the ...
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News
Finnish passenger services secured as VR monopoly ends
FINLAND: The Ministry of Transport Communications has awarded national operator VR a public service obligation contract for the provision of loss-making but socially-desirable passenger trains during 2021. The agreement takes into account the drop in ticket revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ...
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Rail Business UK
ScotRail offers free ticket refunds after coronavirus rule changes
UK: ScotRail is to offer free refunds on unused tickets bought on or before December 20, following the Scottish Government’s announcement of more travel restrictions over the Christmas and New Year period. In order to claim the fee-free refund, customers must keep hold of their tickets ...
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Rail Business UK
Cash refunds to be offered for Christmas rail tickets
UK: Cash refunds will be provided for people who had booked tickets for rail or coach journeys in England during the December 23-27 ‘Christmas travel window’ but who are now unable to travel as a result of the latest changes to the government’s coronavirus restrictions. ...
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Rail Business UK
Launch of Merseyrail’s new trains delayed by pandemic
UK: Challenges arising from the coronavirus pandemic mean that the phased introduction of Merseyrail’s fleet of Stadler Class 777 electric multiple-units will not begin this year, transport authority Merseytravel has confirmed. The pandemic has affected a number of manufacturing and testing workstreams and disrupted critical European ...
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Metro Report International
Station vending machines provide Covid-19 specimen collection packs
CHINA: Hong Kong’s MTR Corp has provided vending machines at 10 metro stations where people can collect Covid-19 specimen collection packs as part of the government’s enhanced laboratory surveillance programme. About 10 000 specimen collection packs supplied by a government contractor will be distributed each ...
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Rail Business UK
January rail fare increase delayed to March 1
UK: The annual change in rail fares will be delayed from January until March 1 2021, the Department for Transport announced on December 16. Regulated fares will then increase by RPI+1, a 2·6% rise. Passengers renewing season tickets will be able to do so at ...
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Rail Business UK
Busiest station saw 7·3 million fewer passengers in 2019-20
UK: Falls in the number of people using stations during the 2019-20 financial year can be partly explained by the coronavirus pandemic, the Office of Rail Road said when its published its annual estimates of station usage on December 1. The statistics cover April ...
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Rail Business UK
Grand Central to restart services
UK: Grand Central is to restart services on December 3 as the lockdown restrictions in England change, but the open access operator warned that it would only be offering a reduced and reservation-only timetable and no onboard catering. ‘While it’s great to be back, we can’t ...
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Rail Business UK
Railtex and Infrarail postponed to September 2021
UK: The Railtex and Infrarail trade fairs have been postponed to September 7-9 2021, organiser Mack-Brooks Exhibitions has confirmed. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the organiser decided that the Infrarail 2020 event which was to have been held at London’s Olympia on May 12-14 this year ...
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Metro Report International
Sydney travel app adds social distancing information
AUSTRALIA: Transport for New South Wales has worked with Amazon Web Services, digital services company Tigerspike and transport software developer AppJourney to add physical distancing and passenger occupancy notifications for Sydney Trains and metro services to the Opal Travel app. Passengers can receive real time alerts ...
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Metro Report International
Eight Covid-19 mitigation technologies to be tested by transport operators
USA: Eight finalists have been selected for the Transit Innovation Partnership Covid-19 Response Challenge, a global competition seeking to evaluate technologies to increase public transport safety and responsiveness during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Rail Business UK
Hull Trains and Grand Central to suspend services again
UK: Open access operators Hull Trains and Grand Central are to suspend services again as England enters a second period of coronavirus lockdown running for four weeks from November 5. The open access companies operate on a purely commercial basis, and were not entitled to the ...
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Metro Report International
Transport for London and government agree six-month funding package
UK: Transport for London confirmed on the morning of November 1 that an agreement had been reached for the Department for Transport to make further emergency funding available to address the forecast shortfall in passenger revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This will ...
