Railways around the world are facing demands to transport more passengers and freight, but constructing new tracks is both expensive and unpopular. This leads to an ambition to run more trains on existing tracks, and challenges to the fundamental principles of present day railway operations are being proposed to achieve this...
If there’s one word which divides the rail industry, it’s innovation. Some will argue that the UK’s railways are the most innovative in the world while others will tell you that we still have a long way to go. Increasingly, the industry is waking up to the fact that innovation...
Transport for London has published its budget and business plan for 2016/17. Unsurprisingly, it includes several commitments for rail, most of which are confirming previously announced plans. Amongst the rail projects included are: Crossrail, with construction continuing in preparation for the Elizabeth line to open in 2018; Redevelopment of the London Underground network with...
The recent re-planning of the rail industry’s investment programme covered by the Hendy Review revealed that the vast majority of programmes will go ahead for delivery by 2019 despite, for a variety of reasons, challenges associated with costs and timescales on a number of enhancement projects. There has also been...
One of the busiest rail hubs on the UK network, Reading, was notorious over the years as a of Spanish rail sector specialist, Electren, to bottleneck blackspot. To address this, Network Rail has spent the past five years carrying out a programme of improvements that has seen the redevelopment of the station,...
In 2012, Danish rail operator Banedanmark embarked on an ambitious 14-year project to electrify large parts of the country’s rail network. The programme is designed to create a sustainable and flexible framework for the operation of modern passenger and freight rail networks, capable of delivering a more stable and more...
Trams are great people movers. After an early boom, many systems around the world were removed and replaced by buses, but that trend is being reversed in many cities, while others never lost their beloved trams. However, while the tracks can be buried in the city streets, there is still...
One of the benefits of attending any major industry conference is the opportunity to network and to renew old acquaintanceships. Having been involved with the development of GSM-R since 1993, when the UIC first decided it needed an international standard digital radio system, the recent World GSM-R Conference presented just such...
Industry awards evenings. Just those words conjure up images of a large room, lots of men in dickie bows and black suits (with the occasional woman in a brightly-coloured dress mixed in), a highly paid yet ineffective comedian who is slightly too blue for his audience, and a well-known person trying to...