All articles by Rail Business UK – Page 154
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Great Northern carried passengers on one of its 25 Siemens Desiro City Class 717 EMUs for the first time when it operated a 'preview' service on September 28. Phased entry of the Rock Rail-owned EMUs into regular service on commuter routes from London's Moorgate station is scheduled to start in ...
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Rail Business UKDepot safety system linked to signalling
UK: The Zonegreen Depot Personnel Protection System at Chiltern Railways' Banbury depot has been linked to the facility's Fenix Tiefenbach signalling system, making it possible for trains to enter directly from the main line without needing a stop/start entrance and exit procedure. Installation was undertaken by Zonegreen and contractor Orton ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Northern has returned to service its first Class 158 DMU to be fully refurbished by Arriva Train Care in Crewe. Features include USB sockets at every seat and free wi-fi, with information screens and digital seat reservations to follow. Suppliers involved in the project include Panasonic (CCTV, media screen, USB ...
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Rail Business UKGrayling demands 'root and branch' review of UK railway
UK: A comprehensive review of the rail sector was announced by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling on September 20. Responding to concerns over the passenger franchising model following the collapse of the Inter-City East Coast franchise, delays and cost over-runs with Network Rail’s investment programme, and operational problems ...
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Rail Business UKWorld rail freight news round-up
Germany's Kreisbahn Siegen-Wittgenstein opened the Südwestfalen container terminal in Kreuztal in Nordrhein-Westfalen on September 14. The 18 500 m² facility has two 225 m tracks and a 191 m long siding. The UK Rail Freight Group has called on the government to ensure that freight growth is at the heart ...
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Rail Business UKBritish Steel rail contract extended
UK: A £200m contract for British Steel to supply approximately 200 000 tonnes of rail to Network Rail was formally signed at InnoTrans on September 19 in a ceremony attended by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling. The two-year extension to a five-year contract which began in 2014 covers ...
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Rail Business UKOffice of Rail & Road publishes report into May timetable disruption.
UK: On September 20 the Office of Rail & Road published its interim inquiry report into what caused the May 2018 timetable disruption. The three-month inquiry has found that Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway, Northern, the Department for Transport and ORR ‘all made mistakes which contributed to the collapse ...
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Rail Business UKUK hydrogen train demonstrator to be tested in 2019
UK: A memorandum of understanding for the development of a hydrogen fuel cell demonstrator train was signed by leasing company Porterbrook and the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Railway Research & Education at InnoTrans on September 19. Porterbrook is to provide an ex-Thameslink Class 319 25 kV 50 Hz/750 V ...
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Rail Business UKRail market still growing, confirms UNIFE
INNOTRANS: Steady growth in the demand for railway products and services can be expected for the next six years, according to the 2018 World Rail Market Study compiled for UNIFE by Roland Berger and launched by UNIFE Chair Sabrina Soussan at InnoTrans on September 18. The seventh biennial study ...
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Rail Business UKFare collection competition concerns raised
UK: The market for ticket gates is 'a near-monopoly, with buyers of gates potentially paying too much', and the market for ticket vending machines is 'delivering poor service quality with low availability of machines', the Office of Rail & Road said on September 13 when it published an update to ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
The first of three HST sets owned by Angel Trains which were formerly used by GWR and Grand Central has been refurbished for use by East Midlands Trains. The work is being undertaken at Etches Park depot in Debry with the support of Loram, SNC-Lavalin and DG Design. On September ...
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Rail Business UKShared blame for Virgin Trains East Coast franchise failure
UK: Operators Stagecoach and Virgin and the Department for Transport share responsibility for the failure of the InterCity East Coast franchise earlier this year, the House of Commons Transport Committee says in a report published on September 12. The Intercity East Coast Franchise report also warns that the government’s proposal ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail agrees £1·46bn commercial estate sale
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail announced on September 10 that it had agreed terms for Telereal Trillium and Blackstone Property Partners to buy its commercial estate portfolio in England and Wales for £1·46bn. The deal comprises around 5 200 properties, the majority of which are spaces under viaducts. Properties in ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
The submission of legislation enabling the construction of Phase 2B of High Speed 2 from Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds is to be delayed. The Department for Transport said this would better align the project with Northern Powerhouse Rail, and would not affect the planned completion ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail seeks East Coast Main Line ETCS partner
UK: Infrastructure manager Network Rail has begun the process of appointing a train control partner to act as its ‘complete delivery agent’ for the roll-out of ETCS Level 2 on the East Coast Main Line. Deployment would start with the southern 160 km between London King’s Cross and Grantham, which ...
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Rail Business UKVirgin Trains introduces RCS passenger communications
UK: Virgin Trains has worked with telecoms company Vodafone and mobile messaging specialist OpenMarket to roll out a Rich Communications Services-based chat service for passenger communications. Unlike text-based SMS messages, RCS allows Virgin Trains to send photos, videos, audio and message with easy-to-select buttons. It will initially be used ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Plans to merge British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland have been postponed. This follows ‘recent advice from Police Scotland around the practicalities of a number of issues and timing of implementation, particularly relating to ICT, which have emerged as part of the re-planning exercise commissioned by Scottish Ministers’, ...
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Rail Business UKHitachi trainsets for Hull Trains under construction
UK: The first bodyshell for the fleet of five Hitachi AT300 electro-diesel trainsets ordered by open access operator Hull Trains has been completed at the manufacturer’s factory at Kasado in Japan. Fitting out will be undertaken at Hitachi’s Pistoia plant in Italy ahead of delivery to the ...
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Rail Business UKTrain disruption information by Facebook Messenger
UK: East Midlands Trains is testing the provision of personalised travel disruption information to passengers via Facebook Messenger. The system was developed by technology company Zipabout with the aim of replacing potentially confusing mass broadcasts of disruption information. Passengers opt-in through a ‘Keep Me Updated’ button on the EMT website. ...
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Rail Business UKHitachi expands Newton Aycliffe plant
UK: Local Member of Parliament Phil Wilson officially opened an additional building at Hitachi Rail Europe’s rolling stock plant in Newton Aycliffe on August 23. Hitachi said the £5m Aspire building took its total investment in the County Durham site to more than £100m. The company has created 730 permanent ...