UK urban rail industry news – Page 16
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Metro Report InternationalLondon Underground’s first Chinese wagons shipped
UK: Chinese rolling stock manufacturer CRRC Shandong has dispatched the first of 71 wagons ordered by London Underground for use on track renewal and maintenance trains. Announcing the shipment of the first batch last month, CRRC said this was the first time that a European metro operator ...
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Metro Report InternationalDoors ordered for London Underground’s new Piccadilly Line trains
UK: Knorr-Bremse’s rolling stock door subsidiary IFE has won its largest ever contract, covering the supply of door systems for the trainsets which Siemens Mobility is to build for London Underground’s Piccadilly Line. The ‘middle double-digit million-euro’ contract announced on August 3 covers ...
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Metro Report InternationalSecond review of Transport for London’s financial options announced
UK: The Transport for London board chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan has commissioned an independent review of Transport for London’s long-term funding and financing options. This will be carried out in parallel with a previously-announced review of TfL financing which is being undertaken by the Department for ...
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Metro Report InternationalUrbanThings raises funding for smart mobility platform development
UK: UrbanThings has raised a further £455 000 to support the development of its travel information, ticketing and customer insight platform, taking the total to £1·5m. ‘This fundraise will allow us to accelerate the development of our demand-responsive transit and smart mobility platform allowing transport operators to ...
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Metro Report InternationalGovernment sets out details of Transport for London financial review
UK: Cost efficiencies, workforce modernisation, alternative potential operating models and ‘exploring the feasibility of extending driverless operation from the Docklands Light Railway to other lines which are already automatic’ are to be considered by a government review into the financial structure of Transport for London. TfL ...
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Metro Report InternationalTram driver safety wristband under development
UK: Edinburgh Trams is leading development of a wristband which would monitor and analyse tram driver fatigue and well-being, with trials are planned for later this year. Data from the wearable technology would be analysed in real time, triggering alerts at the operations control centre if the ...
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Metro Report InternationalEmergency support for Glasgow Subway and Edinburgh Trams
UK: The Scottish Government is to provide up to £9m of emergency funding for the Glasgow Subway and Edinburgh Trams to help mitigate the financial impact of the drop in ridership as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The emergency measures announced on July 7 will be ...
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Metro Report InternationalBlackpool trams to resume as UK light rail operators reflect government guidance
UK: Blackpool’s trams are to begin operating once more from July 19, having been suspended since March 29 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Operator Blackpool Transport said the resumption of services on the 16 km route was intended to ‘support the town’s economy and provide an important ...
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Metro Report InternationalTram operators share best practice on coronavirus communications
UK: Light rail industry association UK Tram organised a virtual event to enable its members to discuss the measures they had taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and to share best practice for post-lockdown communications as passengers begin to return. ‘Early observations suggest that the new ...
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Metro Report InternationalTyne & Wear Metro depot rebuilding contract awarded
UK: Stadler has appointed VolkerFitzpatrick to rebuild the Tyne & Wear Metro’s Gosforth depot, where the Swiss company will maintain for 35 years the 46 five-car 1·5 kV DC light metro trainsets which it is to supply for entry into service from 2023. Rebuilding the depot accounts ...
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Metro Report InternationalUK government aims to ‘permanently change’ transport use as tram and bus funding announced
Source: Tony Miles UK: ‘We must plan our route to recovery’, said Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps at the government’s daily coronavirus briefing on May 23, when he announced £283m of funding ‘to ensure that more buses, trams and light rail networks return to ...
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Metro Report InternationalGrant to develop public transport social distancing technology
Source: Transport for London UK: The Innovate UK innovation agency has awarded UrbanThings a grant to develop a coronavirus social distancing and contact tracing platform for public transport operators. This is intended to help ensure that transport systems can operate with social distancing measures in place. It ...
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Metro Report InternationalManchester seeks tram safety systems
UK: Transport for Greater Manchester has begun a market sounding to gain a better understanding of the availability of technology which could automatically intervene if a tram approaches a higher risk location at a speed which could result in derailment, and also monitor the attentiveness of tram ...
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Metro Report InternationalSocial distancing measures in place as Transport for London increases services
UK: ‘Coronavirus poses monumental challenges to our city’s complex public transport network’, said Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on May 18, when Transport for London began increasing its services to accommodate growing ridership as coronavirus lock-down measures are eased. The increase in services ...
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Metro Report InternationalTransport for London to receive emergency funding
UK: The government has agreed to provide a grant of £1·095bn and a loan of £505m from the Public Works Loan Board to support continuity of operations at Transport for London. In return for the package of support running to October 17 which was agreed on May ...
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Metro Report InternationalVery light rail track under development
UK: The Coventry Very Light Rail scheme to develop a low-cost transport system for medium-sized cities has been awarded £1∙5m of West Midlands Combined Authority funding to support the design and development of track for use by lightweight battery powered vehicles. The project aims to design an ...
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Metro Report InternationalMaking transport data more accessible for innovators
UK: As leader of the £8m ConVEx programme to create a national transport research data exchange facility, Transport for West Midlands has awarded Chordant Inc a contract to supply and support a software platform which will collate data from a range of sources and make it available ...
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Metro Report InternationalNational campaign may be needed to get passengers back on public transport
UK: City transport operators could face a 20% fall in ridership after Covid-19 travel restrictions are lifted, according to survey undertaken by Systra Of respondents who are expecting to reduce their use of public transport, 49% will do so because of concerns over getting ill; 24% said ...
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Metro Report InternationalTransport for London furloughs 25% of employees as fares income drops 90%
UK: Transport for London placed 7 000 staff or around 25% of its employees on furlough for an initial period of three weeks from April 27, reporting that its main source of income ‘has almost disappeared’ in the light of government advice not to travel because of ...
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Rail Business UKUK announces support for light rail during the pandemic
UK: The Department for Transport has confirmed that a ‘multi-million pound’ package of emergency funding will be provided for light rail networks as part of measures aimed at keeping essential transport services running during the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement covers the light rail networks in Sheffield, Greater ...