Rail industry news

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Swietelsky buys Harry Needle Railroad Co

2025-01-14T15:50:00+00:00

UK: Austrian railway construction and maintenance contractor Swietelsky has acquired locomotive hire, storage and maintenance company Harry Needle Railroad Co.

Interview: It is time to embrace open source software

2025-01-14T11:00:00+00:00By Nick Kingsley

Set up by UIC and three national railways, the recently formed Open Rail Association is seeking to grow its membership to drive adoption of open source software in the rail market, as Swiss Federal Railways’ CIO Jochen Decker and Nicole Göbel, Chief Executive of Deutsche Bahn’s information technology arm DB Systel, explain to Nick Kingsley.

AlUla rail skills development agreement

2025-01-14T06:00:00+00:00By Railway Gazette International

SAUDI ARABIA: The Royal Commission for AlUla and Saudi Railway Polytechnic have announced an agreement to boost the capabilities of young Saudis looking to launch a career in AlUla and in the country’s rail sector.

London Underground traction motor refurbishment capacity doubled

2025-01-14T05:00:00+00:00By Rail Business UK

UK: Eriks UK & Ireland has completed a £1·2m refurbishment of its engineering workshop at Greenford in west London as a dedicated facility for servicing London Underground traction motors.

‘Co-operation between historic operators’ sees Ouigo low-cost trains reach Brussels

2025-01-13T11:00:00+00:00By Railway Gazette International

EUROPE: In what the two incumbents term ‘a co-operation between historic operators’, SNCF and SNCB have launched a low-cost loco-hauled Ouigo service between Paris and Brussels.

World rail freight news round-up

2025-01-13T06:00:00+00:00By Railway Gazette International

News from the world rail freight market.

Databases launched to make better use of transport accessibility research

2025-01-13T05:00:00+00:00By Rail Business UK

UK: The National Centre for Accessible Transport has launched a database to consolidate accessible transport research, strategy and policy-related documents, along with a transport barriers database highlighting the challenges that disabled people face.

Regional Railways: A reversal of fortunes in Catalunya

2025-01-12T06:00:00+00:00By Mike Bent

Threatened with closure in the mid-1980s, Catalunya’s Lleida – La Pobla de Segur branch has been revitalised by the regional government over the past two decades. Targeted investment is paying off with steadily increasing ridership, reports Mike Bent.

High speed bypass line contract awarded

2025-01-11T06:00:00+00:00By Railway Gazette International

SPAIN: High speed rail infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad has awarded Sacyr Construcción a €49m contract to build 6·3 km of the future 19 km Loja bypass on the high speed line from Antequera to Granada.

RER NG trains launched on Line D as Paris fleet renewal accelerates

2025-01-10T13:49:00+00:00By Railway Gazette International

FRANCE: The renewal of the rolling stock fleet used on the RER suburban network around Paris is continuing, with the latest generation RER NG trainsets entering service on Line D in December.