EUROPE: Czech open access operator RegioJet has announced plans to launch a long-distance passenger service on the Praha – Wien – Budapest route from June 2020. There would be two trains each way per day, operated as extensions of the Praha – Brno – Wien services which have been running

AFRICA: A bilateral agreement for the modernisation of the Abidjan – Ouagadougou – Kaya route and the construction of an extension to manganese deposits at Tambao near the borders of Niger and Mali was signed by the presents of Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso at  the Eight Summit Conference of

AN inquiry has been launched by the government after widespread power cuts brought many trains to a stand, particularly in the London area. Tyne & Wear Metro was also disrupted by the widespread outages, on Friday afternoon.The problems were caused by the failure of two generators according to National Grid,

More Caledonian Sleeper problems leave passengers strandedANOTHER failure of a Caledonian Sleeper train left passengers stranded at Preston on Friday morning, and they were told that they would have to pay for their journeys onward to London. Virgin declined to allow sleeper tickets to be used on its services because

The Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society (MTPS) has launched a £12,000 appeal to complete Warrington Corporation Tramways car No. 28, which is currently in the final throes of a restoration at the Wirral Transport Museum in Birkenhead. The society hopes the G F Milnes-built double-deck car will be finished by

SPAIN: A Stadler electro-diesel rack locomotive is expected to enter service on Catalunya operator FGC’s Vall de Núria line this month. The metre-gauge route between Ribes-Enllaç and Vall de Núria climbs 1 062 m in 12·5 km to provide access to a car-free tourist destination 1 967 m above sea level in the Pyrenees. The first

SLOVENIA: The Ministry of Infrastructure has awarded a consortium of CAF Signalling and local company ISKRA a contract to design, supply install and commission electronic interlockings and other signalling equipment to replace relay-based systems on the 117 km route between Zidani Most and Sentilj. The project aims to improve safety and increase

Heritage railways face worrying times over the possible crackdown on the use of coal as part of the carbon emission reduction plan. ‘WD’ 2-10-0 No. 90775 gets a Sheringham to Holt train underway past the golf course on July 7. Photo: Barry Martin. Britain’s heritage railways are fighting for their

Photo: Peter Zabek Oliver Cromwell, the National Railway Museum’s (NRM) BR ‘Britannia’ Pacific, is on course for a return to steam after the museum agreed a two-year overhaul loan agreement with the Great Central Railway (GCR) at Loughborough. The agreement runs until December 31, 2021, and will see the GCR

NOISE: Baden Württemberg-based software specialist SoundPLAN has developed a noise mapping tool intended to help railways better understand and mitigate lineside noise emissions. This takes information on the types of rail and rolling stock on a given route, as well as operating parameters including train frequency, size and speed. It then