All articles by Rail Business UK – Page 124
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Rail Business UK
Alstom completes first Class 175 DMU refurbishment
UK: Alstom's Technology Centre at Widnes has rolled out the first of 27 Class 175 long-distance 160 km/h regional diesel multiple-units to be refurbished in a £6·7m programme which is being undertaken for Transport for Wales. The Alstom-built Class 175 has received TfW’s exterior branding, with interior changes including ...
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Rail Business UKMendip Rail orders aggregate wagons
UK: Touax Rail UK has signed a contract to supply 55 Greenbrier Europe JNA open wagons and 40 HOA hoppers to Mendip Rail for use on aggregates traffic. Announcing the order on July 22, the leasing company said this was its first order for new wagons for the UK ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
HS2 Ltd is consulting on plans for a 2·3 km elevated peoplemover which would link the future Interchange station in Solihull with the National Exhibition Centre, the existing Birmingham International station and Birmingham airport. Services would run every 3 min, with a capacity of 2 100 passengers/direction/h and a journey ...
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Rail Business UK
Industry comments on Williams Rail Review
UK: Organisations from across the rail sector have responded to Keith Williams’ speech in Bradford on July 16 during which he provided an update on the strategic review of the rail sector which he is undertaking for the government. Rail Delivery Group ‘Businesses, communities and passengers across the country ...
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Rail Business UKWilliams reiterates call for UK franchising changes
UK: Greater accountability and a clear customer focus are the principal requirements for reform of the UK rail sector, according to Keith Williams, the independent chairman of the rail review established by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling in the wake of the May 2018 timetable change debacle. ...
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Rail Business UKTrac Rail Transposer machines delivered
PLANT: The first four of 10 Trac Rail Transposer rail handling machines have been delivered to McCulloch Rail by Unipart Rail, seven months after the order. The TRT was developed by McCulloch Rail and manufactured by Unipart Rail in Crewe. It is designed to significantly reduce the time taken to ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
The Department for Transport has published a prior information notice in the Official Journal of the European Union giving 12 months’ notice that it could directly award a contract for the operation of InterCity East Coast services for up to 60 months from June 28 2020. This would have a ...
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Rail Business UKVirgin Trains rolls-out app to keep everyone informed
UK: Inter-city operator Virgin Trains has provided its staff with a mobile app which is designed to enable them to supply passengers with more timely and accurate information during service disruption. Back on Track was custom developed for Virgin Trains by UP3 and ServiceNow, but the operator told a launch ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
RSSB published its annual health and safety report on June 27, saying that fatigue, signals passed at danger and change management are key risks. It said Britain’s railways are the safest of the 10 biggest in the EU, with 1·4 fatalities per billion train-km, compared to 89·2 in Spain (the ...
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Rail Business UKAtkins’ digitalisation programme bears fruit as interlocking goes live
UK: The first implementation of Atkins’ digital interlocking technology on a UK passenger-carrying line was commissioned on June 22-23. Atkins’ Strategic Rail Market Director Scott Kelley said the deployment was ‘a step change for the domestic signalling market’, with the project being ‘unique in that it involved new technologies, software ...
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Rail Business UKGenesee & Wyoming to be acquired in US$8·4bn deal
INTERNATIONAL: A consortium of Brookfield Infrastructure, GIC and Brookfield’s institutional partners has agreed to acquire short line group Genesee & Wyoming Inc in a US$8·4bn transaction. The consortium would pay US$112 per share in cash, with G&W becoming a privately held company. ‘We believe this transaction is an excellent ...
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Rail Business UKNew trains launch ‘genuine transformation’ of Northern services
UK: The first nine of 101 diesel and electric multiple-units being supplied to Northern by CAF entered passenger service on July 1. ‘Over the course of the rest of this year, the new trains will be introduced into towns and cities right across the north, marking a genuine transformation of ...
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Rail Business UKAachen students scoop IMechE Railway Challenge
UK: A team of students from Aachen University of Applied Science was named champion of the eighth Railway Challenge organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, after successfully completing a series of on-track challenges at the Stapleford Miniature Railway on June 29-30. Open to students, apprentices and ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
‘We have no intention to bid for new UK rail franchises on the current risk profile offered by the Department for Transport’, said Stagecoach Chief Executive Martin Griffiths on June 26 when presenting the group’s preliminary report for the year to April 27. Its current UK franchised rail operations are ...
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Rail Business UKMidlands Hub plan to boost east-west connectivity
UK: The Midlands Connect consortium of local authorities and regional transport bodies has unveiled proposals for a £2bn package of targeted improvements to boost rail services in the East and West Midlands. The group is seeking £25m in government funding to develop the business case for its Midlands Rail ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail announces signalling framework contracts worth £215m
UK: Network Rail announced on June 25 the award of 17 framework contracts for signalling works with a total estimated value of £215m. The contracts cover ‘minor’ signalling works including refurbishment and component replacement. Network Rail CP6 Minor Signalling framework contracts RouteValueContractors Western £25m-£75m Amey, Balfour Beatty, ...
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Rail Business UKGrand Central to launch Blackpool service in spring 2020
UK: Plans for a Blackpool – London open access service are ‘firmly on track’, with the launch now expected in spring 2020, Grand Central said on June 24. In June last year the Office of Rail & Road granted Alliance Rail Holdings’ Great North Western Railway rights to operate the ...
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Rail Business UKNetwork Rail regions go live
UK: The first phase of a restructuring of infrastructure manager Network Rail into 14 routes reporting to five regions was implemented on June 24. This is intended to devolve responsibility and decision-making to smaller organisations which are closer to customers, and to give local managers the ability to tackle performance ...
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Rail Business UKSouth Wales Metro ECI contracts awarded
UK: Transport for Wales has awarded Balfour Beatty, Alun Griffiths and Siemens Mobility early contractor involvement contracts ahead of procurement for the first stages of the South Wales Metro project. The project which is scheduled to be completed in 2023 covers modernisation, capacity enhancement and electrification works on branch lines ...
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Rail Business UKAssisted travel lounge opened at Birmingham New Street
UK: Network Rail has opened a £175 000 assisted travel lounge at Birmingham New Street station for use by passengers who need help getting between trains and the station concourse. Designed with the guidance of Birmingham New Street’s accessibility forum, the lounge has bright multicoloured signs to aid the ...