All articles by Rail Business UK – Page 95
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Rail Business UK
East Coast Main Line northern power supply works funded
UK: As part of its £1·2bn East Coast Upgrade programme, Network Rail has awarded a £216·2m contract to the Rail Electrification Alliance for the long-awaited strengthening of the 25 kV 50 Hz traction power supplies on the northern section of the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and Edinburgh.
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Rail Business UK
GTR launches £55m Electrostar refurbishment
UK: Govia Thameslink Railway and leasing company Porterbrook have begun a £55m five-year programme to modernise 214 Bombardier Transportation Class 377 Electrostar electric multiple-units operated on Southern services, and 56 similar Class 387 units used on Gatwick Express and Great Northern services. The ...
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Rail Business UK
Cheapest offers in crosshairs as government confirms January rail fare rise
UK: Regulated rail fares are set to increase in January 2021 despite pressure from consumer and environmental groups for the Department for Transport to freeze them as part of efforts to encourage people back onto trains. In line with previous years, the increase will be linked to ...
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Rail Business UK
Mobile train roof access platform
UK: Harmill Systems has developed a battery-powered mobile train roof access platform with a built-in crane. This is designed to provide safe access to the roof of rolling stock for the removal and replacement of equipment such as HVAC units. Acording to Harmill, the design offers a ...
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Rail Business UK
Scottish hydrogen train demonstrator procurement begins
UK: The University of St Andrews has begun the process of appointing an industrial partner to participate in the Zero Emission Train Project, which will see a redundant Class 314 electric multiple-unit equipped with hydrogen fuel cells as a technology demonstrator. The project is being led by ...
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Rail Business UK
Track Your Train as signalling data added to Realtime Trains
In RTT’s Detailed View, the aspect of the next signal the train would pass is denoted by the coloured icon top left. UK: The Realtime Trains web platform which provides independent train running information for the national network added a further layer of functionality on September ...
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Rail Business UK
Five firms selected for HS2 Innovation Accelerator initiative
UK: HS2 Ltd has opened the second round of applications to join its Innovation Accelerator programme, seeking small and medium-sized firms specialising in process efficiencies and the passenger experience at stations. Entrepreneurs and tech specialists are invited to apply by September 18. This follows the announcement of ...
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Rail Business UK
Solar-powered scarecrow deployed to keep birds away from electrical equipment
UK: A solar-powered scarecrow that mimics the calls of a hawk is being used to humanely scare away birds which were damaging overhead line equipment and the pantographs of Avanti West Coast Pendolino trainsets at Alstom’s Longsight depot. ‘Birds at Alstom’s depot have become a real ...
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Rail Business UK
11 700 km of electrification plus battery and hydrogen trains in traction decarbonisation strategy
UK: Network Rail has published its interim Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy, setting out preliminary recommendations for meeting government ambitions to decarbonise the rail network. The Interim Business Case released on September 10 considers the three main ways of achieving this aim: electrification, batteries ...
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Rail Business UK
CrossCountry resumes normal seat reservations
UK: CrossCountry resumed providing reservations for specific seats on all its trains with effect from September 7. Since June, all customers have been requested to reserve a place when travelling with CrossCountry, to help maintain social distancing on board trains during the coronavirus pandemic. The operator said ...
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Rail Business UK
Grand Central drops plans for Blackpool – London open access service
Rail Business UK understands that after months of work exploring all options, it had become clear that the service would not be financially viable until at least 2024.
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Rail Business UK
Wabtec to overhaul IC225 sets as lease extended
UK: Leasing company Eversholt Rail The leasing has awarded Wabtec Faiveley UK a contract to overhaul seven IC225 push-pull trainsets at its Doncaster site. This comes after operate LNER extended it lease until summer 2023, with a possible extension to summer 2024. The deal includes 10 Class ...
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Rail Business UK
Interim report sets out earthwork management plans following Stonehaven derailment
UK: Network Rail’s interim report into improving the resilience of its earthworks to extreme weather was published by the government on September 10. The report was commissioned by Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps following the fatal derailment of a ScotRail train at Carmont near Stonehaven ...
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Rail Business UK
Chris Burchell to leave Arriva to join the energy sector
Chris Burchell tells Rail Business UK why he has decided to leave Arriva, and his thoughts on the future of the rail industry.
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Rail Business UK
Class 730 EMU for Birmingham’s Cross-City Line revealed
UK: One of the Bombardier Transportation Class 730 Aventra electric multiple-units which West Midlands Trains has ordered for its Cross-City Line services through Birmingham has been unveiled at the manufacturer’s Derby factory. ‘Designed and built in Derby they really are made in the ...
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Rail Business UK
Class 230 variants approved for passenger service
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has given authorisation for battery and diesel-battery versions of Vivarail’s Class 230 D-Train multiple-units to be used in passenger service. Battery set No 230 002 is a demonstrator trainset powered only by batteries which was completed in 2018 and is ...
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Rail Business UK
Railcard discounts now available on GTR smart cards
UK: Railcard discounts can now be obtained for pay-as-you-go travel when using Govia Thameslink Railway’s Key smart cards. Key smart card holders enter their Railcard details onto their online keyGo account. Any journeys made are then automatically assessed at the end of each day, and if they ...
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Rail Business UK
High Speed 2 main works construction officially begins
UK: High Speed 2 project promoter HS2 Ltd marked the symbolic start of the main works for the 225 km Phase 1 of the project on September 4, noting that its contractors were moving from enabling, design and preparatory works to full construction. The announcement followed the ...