THE opening of the first part of the Leiston Works Railway (LWR), Suffolk, fell to a 48DS Ruston & Hornsby four-wheel diesel.  The occasion on June 1-2 also marked the 160th anniversary of the main line railway arriving at Leiston. It had been hoped the honour

THE National Railway Museum’s Metropolitan-Cammell Class 101 DMU – DMBS No. M51188 and DTSL No. M56352 – have been overhauled to a high standard by the Weybourne Traction Group.  They are now able to operate in multiple with the NNR’s own Class 101 set, DMBS No. E51228 and DTSL No. E56062.

UK: East Coast Main Line operator LNER launched its Hitachi-built Class 800 Azuma trainsets on Anglo-Scottish services on August 1, deploying one of the electro-diesel units on its flagship 05.40 Flying Scotsman service from Edinburgh to London King’s Cross and the 17.30 return working. Class 800s have been operating between London

GERMANY: Track maintenance plant supplier Robel has taken a majority stake in Vogel & Plötscher GmbH, which specialises in track measurement systems and electric drives. Based at Breisach in Baden-Württemberg, Vogel & Plötscher will continue to trade as an independent business following the acquisition of a 70% stake in it by

On July 25 TransPennine Express accepted the first of the Nova 2 branded Civity EMUs which are being supplied by CAF and Eversholt Rail. The five-car Class 397 units will enter service later this year on TPE’s services from Manchester and Liverpool to Edinburgh and Glasgow via the West Coast

FRANCE: SNCF Mobilités announced an order for 12 double-deck TGVs on July 31 as part of its fleet renewal strategy. Branded TGV Océane by the operator, the Avelia Euroduplex trainsets are to be supplied by Alstom for use on routes between Paris and Metz and Nancy in eastern France, and from

THE RMT has called six more 24-hour strikes on Merseyrail, in the continuing dispute over on-train staffing. The dates announced by the RMT are 24 August, 3,5 and 30 September, and 2 and 4 October. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: ‘After 15 months of difficult negotiations with Merseyrail at

GERMANY: Further separation of infrastructure provider DB Netz from the Deutsche Bahn group is amongst a raft of measures recommended by the Monopolies Commission to enhance quality and competition on the rail network. In its seventh report, published on July 25, the Commission highlights the need for better service quality, especially

RUSSIA: Three Class RA3 diesel multiple-units to operate regauged regional railway routes on Sakhalin were formally unveiled by Transmashholding on July 26, at a ceremony attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Sakhalin oblast government Vitaly Gudin, RZD’s Deputy General Director, Passenger, Dmitry Pegov, and the First Deputy General Director

Passengers in Cheshire, the North West and Cumbria should check before they travel as landslips and flooding caused by heavy rain are affecting some journeys. Network Rail is busy at several locations working to clear debris, lower water levels and reopen railway lines so trains can run again as normal.