A strategy for safe and biodiverse railway lineside to “protect and enhance” the amount of plants, trees and wildlife alongside Britain’s rail lines has been announced by the Department for Transport (DfT). Ministers expect Network Rail, the government-owned company responsible for managing rail infrastructure, to achieve no net loss

DENMARK: State operator DSB has launched a market sounding exercise in preparation for the procurement of a fleet of driverless trains to operate the København S-bane. Building on work now underway to equip the S-bane with CBTC, the government decided in December 2017 to convert the stand-alone 1·5 kV DC network to

USA: Short line group Pioneer Railcorp announced on July 19 that its shareholders had approved the company’s acquisition by BRX Transportation Holdings, an entity formed by infrastructure investors Brookhaven Rail Partners, Related Infrastructure and private equity investor Stephens Capital Partners. Pioneer Railcorp owns 15 common carrier short lines including the Gettysburg

UK: An ‘ambitious’ Integrated Rail Plan for the Sheffield City Region was launched by Mayor Dan Jarvis on July 18. The plan was produced by the region’s local authorities supported by organisations including Transport for the North. The proposals include a Barnsley Dearne Valley station in Goldthorpe on the Northern Powerhouse

Rail enthusiast or not, it would take a lot to miss all of the coverage in recent news about the celebratory anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Fifty years on, the programme to take the first humans to the moon is arguably our single greatest achievement. At

USA: Norfolk Southern has successfully rolled out the first phase of its Thoroughbred Operating Plan 21, covering its wagonload and automotive traffic, the railway confirmed on July 22. Mirroring the principles of the Precision Scheduled Railroading concept adopted by other Class Is, TOP21 is designed to improve system velocity and ensure

TANZANIA: The revival of freight operations on the country’s 438 km Usambara Railway was marked by a ceremony at Moshi on July 20 attended by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa. The Tanga – Moshi line has been out of use for 12 years, but the Prime Minister told parliament in June 2018 that

THE Alan Keef 0-6-0DH steam-outline loco delivered new to the 10¼in-gauge Beale Railway in February 2018 and named Howard is seen on March 10.  Its identity is confirmed as Keef 103 of 2017, not as previously stated. The terminus station is called Howard’s Halt, which like the

Hot weather slows down trainsTRAIN operators in England are warning that very hot weather is expected to slow down their trains, particularly tomorrow, when temperatures in the London area are forecast to reach 37C. Network Rail says rail temperatures can be 15C higher than the air temperature, which means the

INTERNATIONAL: FlixMobility has completed a Series F funding round co-led by growth equity firms TCV and Permira, with long-time investor HV Holtzbrinck Ventures also participating through a joint investment with the European Investment Bank. In the rail sector, the company plans to use the equity raised to support the growth of