SWITZERLAND: A pre-series batch of five Prima H4 shunting locomotives has now been delivered to SBB for a year of in-service trials.Designated Aem940 by SBB, the locomotives will be used mainly at marshalling yards and for engineering possessions. In line with SBB’s fleet rationalisation efforts, the four-axle loco is intended

THE highly anticipated return of Severn Valley Railway (SVR) flagship No. 4930 Hagley Hall has moved a step closer following the delivery of the ‘Hall’s newly machined cylinder blocks to Bridgnorth on June 14.    The new cylinders were one of the last machining jobs carried out by Harco Engineering in

HAVING been given your June edition by a friend who recognised me in the Paddington hosts HST farewell feature, I was the driver of 1L7, the 14.29 Swansea-Paddington. The coverage was excellent, but very emotional, and I was told Sir Kenneth Grange was aboard for some of the journey. I was

Restoring a 1930s all-electric Pullman train for use on the mainline is a project where the 5BEL Trust has faced and overcome numerous challenges. With the luxury train now being prepared for testing, Andy Coward brings us up-to-date with this ambitious restoration. Work on the restoration of four ‘Brighton Belle’

Union urges ban on contracted-out track workTHE RMT has called for an ‘absolute ban’ on the contracting-out of track work, after the RAIB’s report into the death of a contractor’s employee near Purley on the Brighton Main Line last November. The man who died when he was hit by a

BULGARIA: As part of its onboard advertising programme, national operator BDZ has worked with furniture and household goods company Ikea to fit sleeping cars with ‘colourful accessories giving the compartments home comforts and an additional summer mood’.The cars with Ikea furnishings are now operating on services from the capital Sofia

UK: The University of Leeds’ Institute for High Speed Rail & System Integration is on course to open by the end of 2020 after it was granted £11m in government research funding on July 10, distributed via the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund. The institute is also set to receive

POLAND: PKP Intercity has selected Stadler as preferred bidder for a contract to supply 12 eight-car 160 km/h Flirt electric multiple-units and maintain them for 15 years. Formal award of the contract announced on July 11 is subject to the standard 10-day regulatory standstill period. The EMUs are intended for use on

A NEW and much reduced rail franchising schedule published by the Department for Transport appears to concede that franchising in its present form is coming to an end.In past years, the schedule, first produced in 2013, showed timelines for all present and future franchises, together with the dates when ITTs,

Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire Network Rail launch a £70m task force to improve the safety of track workers, a week after two railway workers were killed after being struck by a train in Port Talbot. The Government-owned company said the £70 million scheme would boost the development of systems which supported