All Policy articles
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NewsSlovaks welcome government backing for rail, but funding shortfall remains
SLOVAKIA: International co-operation and more funding for infrastructure were key themes emerging from the 19th FKD railway conference held in Bratislava on March 18-19. Toma Bačić reports.
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NewsMinister orders urgent measures to enhance railway safety
BULGARIA: Minister of Transport & Communications Grozdan Karadzhov has ordered urgent action to enhance railway safety within six months, following the receipt of a report commissioned from an industry working group.
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Rail Business UKPrivate train operators’ advocacy body Rail Partners closes
UK: The Rail Partners association of train operators’ parent companies closed on March 21.
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NewsAmtrak CEO Gardner leaves as operator pushes back against Musk’s privatisation drive
USA: Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner announced on March 19 that he was stepping down from the national passenger operator with immediate effect.
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NewsInternal candidate chosen to head EU Agency for Railways
EUROPE: Oana Gherghinescu has been appointed as the next Executive Director at the EU Agency for Railways.
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NewsRail freight coalition calls for EU action
UK: Five CEOs of members of the RailFreightForward coalition of rail freight operators recently met EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas to discuss challenges including a lack of high-quality cross-border infrastructure capacity, an uneven economic level playing field and investments in digital technology. RailFreightForward asked the Commissioner ...
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In depthComment: Rail needs to find Another Way
Amid geopolitical turbulence, governments in Europe and beyond will need to ramp up their defence spending urgently, potentially squeezing the funding avilable for rail and wider civilian infrastructure. However, a push for more efficiency offers opportunities too, believes our Executive Editor Nick Kingsley.
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NewsTempi accident report exposes Greek railway safety failures
GREECE: Rail and air accident investigation body EODASAAM exposes serious systemic failures in the Greek railway sector and makes 17 recommendations for improvement in its report into the head-on collision between passenger and freight trains near Tempi which killed 57 people on February 28 2023. The ...
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News‘Every dollar is accounted for’, says California High Speed Rail Authority as Trump administration announces review
USA: ‘With multiple independent federal and state audits completed, every dollar is accounted for, and we stand by the progress and impact of this project’, California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri said after recently appointed US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a review of federal ...
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NewsFreight operators say ERTMS risks losing its purpose
EUROPE: A new approach to the roll-out of ERTMS is urgently needed, according to the European Rail Freight Association. ERFA has warned that specification changes, national divergences and the absence of a business case for train operators mean that ERTMS risks losing its original purpose of ...
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Rail Business UKGovernment sets out its plan for how Great British Railways will work
Rail Business UK looks at the details of the government’s rail reform plans, which would restructure the industry and establish Great British Railways as a new body bringing together infrastructure and operations in the biggest shake-up of the sector since privatisation.
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Rail Business UKIndustry responds to UK rail reform bill consultation
Rail Business UK provides a round-up of responses to the start of consultation on the government’s rail reform bill
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NewsCommission says Dutch train operating contract award broke EU rules
NETHERLANDS: The European Commission has said the Netherlands failed to correctly apply EU rules on competitive tendering when it directly awarded state-owned incumbent NS a contract to operate passenger train services on the designated core rail network in 2025-33. On February 12 the Commission reported that ...
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NewsRail spending capped in cautious Indian budget
INDIA: Emphasising a continued focus on economic growth, the government has allocated Rs2·52tr for capital expenditure in the national rail network during the 2025-26 financial year starting on April 1. This is the same as the allocation for 2024-25, despite earlier expectations that gross budgetary support ...
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Metro Report InternationalBrazil: Urban rail projects battle local politics
Examples in Cuiabá and Canoas show how vulnerable Brazilian urban rail projects are to changes in local politics, as well as the temptation of alternative modes which are seen as less complex, even if the benefits are lower. Marcelo Benoit examines the two cases.
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NewsRolling stock owners call for action on rail’s ‘patchwork of increasingly expensive technologies’
EUROPE: The Association of European Rail Rolling stock Lessors has called for the more co-ordinated deployment of ERTMS, changes to subsidy policies and measures to ensure life-time support of vehicles
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In depthRegional Railways: A reversal of fortunes in Catalunya
Threatened with closure in the mid-1980s, Catalunya’s Lleida – La Pobla de Segur branch has been revitalised by the regional government over the past two decades. Targeted investment is paying off with steadily increasing ridership, reports Mike Bent.
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In depthComment: A glimpse over the horizon
As celebrations in Britain this year mark 200 years since the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, our Consultant Editor Murray Hughes reflects on his 50 years writing for Railway Gazette International and assesses where the rail sector might go in the coming half-century.
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NewsRegional passenger services in Grand Est stepped up further
FRANCE: The next stage of the Réseau Express Métropolitain Européen programme to increase local passenger services in the area around Strasbourg has been launched.
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Rail Business UKQuestions remain for the rail sector in English devolution plans
UK: The rail sector has welcomed the outline plans for local politicians to have greater control of passenger rail services which are set out in the government’s white paper on devolution in England, but questions remain about the future scope and structure.