All Policy articles – Page 47
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NewsHydrogen train to be tested in the UK by 2020
UK: The Rail Safety & Standards Board is working with Alstom with the aim of piloting a hydrogen powered train in late 2019 or early 2020, RSSB Chief Executive Mark Phillips said on February 12. Philips was responding to a speech by Transport Minister Jo Johnson, who said he ‘would ...
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NewsVirgin Trains East Coast franchise to end within months
UK: InterCity East Coast franchisee Virgin Trains East Coast has breached ‘a key financial covenant’ and cannot be expected to continue for more than a few months, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told parliament on February 5. The VTEC joint venture of Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin (10%) has ‘met all its ...
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NewsVirgin Trains directly awarded new InterCity West Coast franchise
UK: The directly awarded franchise which will see incumbent Virgin Trains continue to operate InterCity West Coast passenger services until the start of the West Coast Partnership contract has now been agreed, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling announced on February 5. ICWC services have been operated by the ...
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NewsSouth Moravia tenders passenger services
CZECH REPUBLIC: The South Moravia regional government has launched a competitive tendering process to select the future operator of all subsidised train services in the region, which surrounds the country’s second city of Brno. The five-year contract would start on January 1 2020, when the current 10-year deal with national ...
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NewsCapacity enhancement at hubs is spending priority, says infrastructure council
FRANCE: Enhancing capacity at key rail hubs is one of several priority measures outlined by the Conseil d’Orientation des Infrastructures on February 1. The council was established in September 2017 by Transport Secretary Elisabeth Borne, and its work builds on the conclusions of the Mobilité 21 commission issued in 2014. ...
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NewsIndian budget trebles railway investment
INDIA: A major increase in Indian Railways’ capital expenditure to Rs1 485bn in the 2018-19 financial year was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as part of the national budget unveiled on February 1. This is almost three times the Rs540m allocated for capital works in 2013-14. Jaitley said improvements ...
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NewsInnovative traction and electrification in Bayern plan to reduce diesel dependency
GERMANY: Proposals to significantly reduce the use of diesel traction in favour of low-emission alternatives have been presented to the Bayern cabinet by Land Transport Minister Joachim Herrmann. The Bayerische Elektromobilitäts-Strategie Schiene (BESS) is intended to support the federal government’s 2050 climate targets, and to make rail a more attractive ...
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NewsRail associations call for NAFTA renewal
NORTH AMERICA: The Association of American Railroads, Railway Association of Canada and Asociación Mexicana de Ferrocarriles issued a joint letter on January 22 calling for ‘a constructive effort’ to negotiate a new North American Free Trade Agreement. 'To ensure that a new NAFTA can build upon the success of its ...
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NewsPoland adopts long-term infrastructure funding plan
POLAND: The Council of Ministers adopted a bill on January 16 which sets out a long-term railway maintenance budget for 2019-23. This is designed to enable national rail infrastructure manager PKP PLK to plan maintenance further in advance, reducing a backlog of work built up in previous years when large ...
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NewsShift2Rail issues 2018 call for proposals
EUROPE: The Shift2Rail joint undertaking formed to promote strategic research and innovation in the European rail sector has published its 2018 call for proposals, based on its amended Annual Work Plan 2018. The call for proposals covers 18 topics, of which seven are open to Shift2Rail joint undertaking members and ...
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NewsStrategic Transport Plan for northern England published
UK: Transport for the North has published its draft 30-year Strategic Transport Plan for northern England, outlining a 'revolutionary investment programme' running to 2050 which is intended to drive growth and close the economic gap between the north and the rest of England. TfN is overseen by 19 regional transport ...
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NewsAcademy to support Ethiopian railway operations
ETHIOPIA: Work is to start later this year on the construction of a railway training academy, Ethiopian Railways Corp announced on January 13. When fully operational, the academy is expected to employ around 250 teachers and administrative staff, training up to 1 00 students at a time in seven different ...
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NewsNS seeks return to contract operating market
NETHERLANDS: National passenger operator NS is ready to restart submitting bids for Dutch regional passenger operating contracts, Chief Executive Roger van Boxtel said in an interview with the Volkskrant newspaper last month. NS had announced in 2016 that it would focus on the core long-distance rail network and would no ...
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NewsRegions recommend flexible approach to TER tendering
FRANCE: Recommendations on the approach that the government should adopt in legislation to allow regional passenger services to be put out to tender were published by the organisation representing regional authorities on January 9. Régions de France had conducted a series of hearings between March and July 2017, taking evidence ...
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NewsSNCF plans TGV efficiency drive to compete with air and bus
FRANCE: National rail operator SNCF is planning to restructure its high speed operations over the next three years to improve fleet utilisation and facilitate the withdrawal of its oldest TGV trainsets. According to the head of Voyages SNCF Rachel Picard, the changes are expected to reduce operating costs by between ...
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NewsBetter franchise design could have reduced TSGN disruption, says NAO
UK: Some of the extensive disruption experienced by passengers on the Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise over the last three years could have been avoided if the Department for Transport had taken more care to consider passengers in its design of the franchise, head of the National Audit Office ...
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NewsChinese investment threatens conflict of loyalties
Chinese infrastructure investments in Central and Eastern Europe continue to pose concerns for EU leaders, reports Tim Banning.
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NewsNo agreement on New York – New Jersey tunnel
USA: There is no agreement for the federal government to pay around half of the cost of the proposed $13bn Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York, according to the Federal Transit Administration. In a December 29 letter to New York and New Jersey state ...
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NewsChinese company to upgrade Republika Srpska railway
BOSNIA: The Republika Srpska entity’s railway company ŽRS has awarded China Shandong International Economic & Technical Co-operation Group a contract for the modernisation of the 104 km route from Banja Luka to Novi Grad and the border with Croatia at Dobrljin. The agreement was signed on the fringe of ...
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NewsOverspeed focus in Amtrak derailment
USA: Excessive speed has been identified as a key factor in the derailment of Amtrak Cascades’ Seattle – Portland train 501 near Tacoma on December 18, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The 12-car Talgo 6 trainset, hauled by a new Siemens Charger diesel locomotive with a GE P42 ...