All Railway Gazette International articles in August 2024 – Page 4
-
News
Caltrain Downtown Rail Extension contract awarded
USA: The Transbay Joint Powers Authority has selected the AECOM-led Portal Connectors team to provide programme management and construction management services for the long-planned extension of Caltrain commuter rail services into central San Francisco. Downtown Rail Extension Branded as The Portal, the Downtown Rail Extension project ...
-
Metro Report International
Battery-electric tampers ordered for rubber-tyred metro lines
FRANCE: Infrastructure maintenance contractor TSO has ordered two Plasser & Theurer MetroFlex E³ battery-electric tamping machines customised for use on the rubber-tyred metro lines in Paris. A special tamping concept is necessary to deal with the complex trackform; the rubber tyred wheelsets run on horizontal guideways ...
-
News
Indian cabinet approves construction of eight railway lines
INDIA: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved eight new line projects which are intended to improve connectivity, minimise logistics costs, reduce oil imports and lower CO2 emissions. The projects approved on August 9 include 64 stations providing enhanced connectivity for about 400 000 people. ...
-
News
Subic – Batangas railway study to be commissioned
PHILIPPINES: The Department of Transportation is to call tenders at the end of this year for a feasibility study into a proposed 250 km freight railway between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas. Philippine National Railways Chairman Michael Macapagal told local media in July that the ...
-
Metro Report International
Children with Down’s syndrome act as tram conductors
NETHERLANDS: Staff on Amsterdam tram Route 26 gave children with Down’s syndrome the chance to be conductors for a day, opening and closing the doors and announcing the stops.
-
Rail Business UK
UK railway news round-up
This week’s round-up of business news from the UK railway industry.
-
News
VR to divest infrastructure assets to facilitate Finnish rail competition
FINLAND: ‘Our strategy focuses on profitability, growth and creating a values-based VR culture’, VR Group CEO Elisa Markula said when she the presented the national operator’s H1 2024 results on August 16 and set out plans to divest some assets to facilitate competition. With the opening ...
-
Rail Business UK
LNER withdraws flexible off peak fares from more stations
UK: LNER’s pilot scheme withdrawing flexible Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak fares is to be expanded to cover journeys between London and more than 20 stations around and between Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh from September 30. In January, the nationalised operator launched a two-year ‘Simpler Fares’ trial ...
-
Rail Business UK
All-day off-peak fare trial fails to achieve modal shift goals
UK: A pilot scheme which removed peak fares on ScotRail services in favour of offering cheaper off-peak fares all day is to end, after analysis found only ‘a limited degree of success’ in achieving modal shift from cars The Scottish government spent £40m subsidising the ScotRail ...
-
News
Federal budget increases equity in DB InfraGO
GERMANY: The federal government has agreed to changes in the national budget for 2025 that will replace a provision for grants worth €4∙5bn by equity increases in Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure business, DB InfraGO. In the same statement on August 16, the government announced that DB would ...
-
Metro Report International
Urban transport industry news round-up
This week’s round-up of news from the urban transport sector.
-
News
Bilingual station signs installed in Austria
AUSTRIA: Austria Federal Railways has begun installing bilingual signs at stations in communities that are legally defined as bilingual. The first such signs were installed at St Michael ob Bleiburg/Šmihel pri Pliberku station. Four stations in the Land of Kärnten are to get signs in Slovenian, ...
-
Rail Business UK
Welsh government sets out rail reform priorities
UK: The Welsh government’s priorities for rail reform have been discussed in a meeting between Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Transport & North Wales Ken Skates and UK government Rail Minister Lord Hendy. Priorities include: developing a ‘locally driven and empowered’ business unit for Great British ...
-
News
Brussels – Venezia night train to serve winter sports and city break destinations
EUROPE: Open access night train operator European Sleeper is to launch a seasonal Brussels – Utrecht – Köln – München – Innsbruck – Verona – Venezia service to winter sports and city trip destinations. The service is being planned around school holidays, the peak winter sports ...
-
Rail Business UK
Viewpoint: the fare evasion prosecution scandal explained
UK: Nathan Seymour-Hyde, Partner and Solicitor at Reeds Solicitors, explains how train operators misused the Single Justice Procedure and why up to 75 000 convictions for fare evasion offences have now been quashed.
-
Metro Report International
Honolulu awards downtown metro contract
USA: Civil engineering company Tutor Perini has won a $1·66bn design and build contract covering the extension of Honolulu’s Skyline metro into the city centre. The contract was awarded on August 15, with construction to start next year for completion in 2030. The City Center Guideway ...
-
News
Tunisia to Algeria passenger train services restart
AFRICA: Passenger train services from the Tunisian capital to Annaba in Algeria have restarted almost 30 years after being suspended. The first train left Tunis on August 11. Tunisia’s SNCFT will initially operate services from Tunis on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, returning from Annaba on Tuesdays, ...
-
News
N700S high speed trains with inspection capability to replace Dr Yellow
JAPAN: Central Japan Railway is to augment its fleet of N700S Shinkansen trainsets with a further 17 units, some of which will be fitted with infrastructure inspection equipment.
-
Metro Report International
Virtual Reality for Inclusion initiative helps people to use public transport with confidence
BRAZIL: Virtual reality is being used to help people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder develop the skills to use public transport confidently and autonomously. The Virtual Reality for Inclusion initiative is hosted at the headquarters of the Jô Clemente Institute in the Vila Clementino ...