UK rail industry news – Page 150
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Network Rail recorded 619 balloon-related incidents in the past year, many involving helium balloons getting tangled around high voltage overhead wires, with a total cost to the industry of around £1m. 'Ideally, we’d ask people not to bring balloons into our stations’, said James Dean, Chief Operating Officer for Network ...
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Rail Business UKFirm orders for Hybrid PowerPacks
EUROPE: Contracts have been signed for Rolls-Royce to supply nine MTU Hybrid PowerPacks to Ireland’s Iarnród Éireann and four to UK leasing company Porterbrook. The firm orders announced on April 16 follows letters of intent announced at InnoTrans 2018. The Hybrid PowerPacks are to be delivered between May 2020 ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
c2c has begun introducing the PICO4UK ticket issuing system, which by the end of the year will replace seven separate legacy retailing systems to integrate its ticket machines, ticket offices, website and app. PICO4UK has been developed for the UK market to replicate a system which parent company Trenitalia has ...
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Rail Business UKSouth Eastern franchise award delayed
UK: The start of the next South Eastern passenger franchise has been delayed ‘while we make a decision on the competition’, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling confirmed to parliament on April 9. The Department for Transport is negotiating a short-term extension to its current agreement with Govia. This ...
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Rail Business UKStagecoach disqualified from three franchises in pension dispute
UK: Stagecoach Group has been disqualified from the Department for Transport’s three current passenger franchise competitions, the company announced on April 10. Incumbent Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the East Midlands franchise, which the DfT announced on April 10 had been won by Abellio, and for the West Coast Partnership ...
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Rail Business UKBimode and hydrogen trains as Abellio wins next East Midlands franchise
UK: The Department for Transport named Abellio as the winner of the next East Midlands passenger franchise on April 10. Formal award is subject to a regulatory standstill period. The contract is due to begin on August 18 2019 and run until at least August 21 2027, with DfT having ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a report into delays to the Crossrail project on April 3, saying a 'fixation' on a delivery deadline of December 2018 led to signs that the programme was in trouble being missed or ignored. 'It is clear that the delivery deadline of ...
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Rail Business UKFirst look inside new Caledonian Sleeper trains
UK: London to Scotland overnight train operator Caledonian Sleeper has unveiled the interiors of its new coaches, which are being built by CAF in northern Spain. Entry into service had originally been scheduled for April 2018 but is now expected by the end of May. The Lowlander route between London ...
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Rail Business UKProgress Rail to repower GB Railfreight locomotives
UK: GB Railfreight has awarded Progress Rail a contract to repower 16 serviceable, stored or non-running Class 56 diesel locomotives which it bought from UK Rail Leasing last June. The existing Ruston-Paxman RK3 engines and control gear on the locomotives dating from 1976-84 will be replaced with new EMD 12-710 ...
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Rail Business UKTalgo committed to UK expansion strategy
UK: Planning for the development of a rolling stock manufacturing plant in Scotland and a research facility in northern England is continuing ‘at full pace’, Talgo Group President Carlos de Palacio Oriol told Railway Gazette in Madrid on April 1. Pointing out that Talgo’s two Spanish plants at Las Matas ...
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Rail Business UKMaritime Transport launches rail freight business
UK: Logistics company Maritime Transport officially launched its Maritime Intermodal business on March 29. DB Cargo UK unveiled two specially-branded Class 66 locomotives to mark the start three days later of a 10-year contract to operate daily container trains from Southampton and Felixstowe to inland terminals on Maritime’s behalf. As ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
Govia Thameslink Railway began the gradual introduction of Siemens Mobility Class 717 EMUs into all-day passenger service on March 25, when the first two six-car units began operating Great Northern services from Moorgate. All 25 Class 717s are expected to be in service later this year. Transport for London announced ...
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Rail Business UKMayor calls for TfL to replace Network Rail as infrastructure manager
UK: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called for Transport for London to replace Network Rail as the infrastructure manager for routes which are used by suburban passenger services operated under concessions awarded by TfL. The proposal forms part of TfL’s submission of its views to a review of the ...
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Rail Business UKFive recommendations in Lewisham detrainment report
UK: The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has published its report into an incident on March 2 2018 when nine Southeastern trains became stranded near Lewisham in London during bad weather and passengers evacuated themselves onto third-rail electrified tracks. The report published on March 25 is separate from an action plan ...
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Rail Business UKRevised punctuality measure aims to improve performance
UK: The Rail Delivery Group has announced that passenger operators and Network Rail will publish new measures of train punctuality from the beginning of April, as part of an ongoing plan to improve performance and reduce delays. The approach will see services measured to the minute at all stops, replacing ...
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Rail Business UKTrains ordered for 2021 launch of ‘high-quality, low fare’ London – Edinburgh service
UK: FirstGroup has finalised an order for five Hitachi AT300 electric trainsets which it will use to launch a London – Edinburgh open access service in autumn 2021. The £100m deal completed on March 20 is being financed by Beacon Rail Leasing and includes 10 years of maintenance by ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
An independent organisation should be established to enhance accountability and enable a more joined-up, long-term approach to decisions about the railway in England and Wales, Rail Delivery Group Chief Executive Paul Plummer told the Accelerate Rail conference on March 19. ‘We are calling for a new arms-length organising body to ...
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Rail Business UKEurotunnel awards Shuttle refurbishment contract
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel concessionaire Eurotunnel has appointed Bombardier Transportation to undertake the mid-life refurbishment of its nine passenger Shuttle trainsets, which carry cars, coaches and their occupants between the terminals in the UK and France. The contract announced on March 20 is worth €150m over seven years, with deliveries of ...
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Rail Business UKOverhead Line Electrification for Railways
Book Review Overhead Line Electrification for Railways By Garry Keenor Developed over several years by an experienced electrification engineer, this book is intended to provide ‘an approachable and reasonably comprehensive’ study of overhead electrification systems, setting out ‘the why as well as the what’ for readers with some basic engineering ...
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Rail Business UKCost of UK electrification could be cut by half
UK: Better planning of projects, wider adoption of best practice and a long-term commitment to a rolling programme could reduce the cost of overhead line electrification by between 33% and 50%, according to a report published by the UK’s Railway Industry Association on March 14. The Electrification Cost Challenge review ...