CHINA: Children up to 1500 mm tall can now travel on half-fare tickets, the Ministry of Railways has announced. The previous height limit was 1400 mm, but this has had to be changed to reflect the increase in the average height of children as standards of living improve.
According to the Ministry of Health, the average height of six-year-old boys in China has increased from 1123 mm in 1975 to 1187 mm in 2005, and girls from 1115 mm to 1177 mm.
AUSTRALIA: The two tunnel boring machines to excavate the cross-city rail tunnels under central Brisbane have arrived in Queensland, state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on August 4.
FRANCE: Following a year of consultation over the competitive tendering of up to 10 groups of local rail services, the Hauts-de-France regional council formally invited expressions of interest on July 30 for two nine-year public service contracts to operate routes in Nord-Pas de Calais and Picardie from July 7 2024.
FRANCE: Passenger trains on the Saint-Dié-des-Vosges – Épinal line are expected to resume running in 2025 under plans unveiled by the Grand Est regional authority on July 29.
Enhancing satellite coverage of secondary railways is a key focus of ongoing research under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. It is hoped that satellite location could reduce some of the cots of adopting ERTMS. SPAIN: Infrastructure manager ADIF and domestic partners Ineco and Cedex will start ...
Photo: Christophe Masse Trenitalia is planning to launch high speed services in both France and Spain; some testing of its Frecciarossa 1000 trainsets has already been undertaken in France. SPAIN: The ILSA-Trenitalia joint venture has pinpointed March 1 2022 as the start date for its ...
Photos: Mariano Álvaro Navarro RENFE’s first S106 Avril trainset passes through Getafe in the southern suburbs of Madrid on the morning of July 24. SPAIN: The first series-produced Avril high speed trainset ordered by RENFE left Talgo’s Rivabellosa factory overnight on July 23-24 to be ...
