National Express Group’s UK on-line ticket retailer Qjump Ltd has merged with The Trainline. Stagecoach has withdrawn from the project, leaving Virgin Group owning 86% of Trainline Holdings and NEG 14%.
Metrorail suburban services from Cape Town were extended to Worcester in February. The 175 km route has a daily return trip on weekdays for commuters and two on Sundays to encourage tourist travel through the wine region and mountains of Western Cape.
The UK Association of Train Operating Companies has awarded two five-year contracts to handle the National Rail Enquiries telephone journey-planning service to BT and Ventura. Calls will be answered at centres in the UK and India.
German Railway plans to offer refunds of 20% of the ticket price to passengers delayed by over 60 min. At present compensation of €10 to €25 is offered, on a sliding scale from 30min to 90min.
A total of 59·9 million passenger-journeys was made on the network of Finnish operator VR in 2003, 3·8% up on 2002.
As part of its fleet refurbishment Eurostar is planning to trial Wi-Fi access on-board its high speed trains later this year.
Tyco Electronics is supplying Raychem 25 kV polymer roofline cable assemblies to replace the existing ceramic terminators on SNCF’s TGV Atlantique fleet during refurbishment.
The UK Department for Transport is seeking views by April 13 on the 1999 revision of the Convention Concerning International Carriage by Rail which is expected to come into force later this year, and on draft regulations for implementation in the UK.
