UK: Network Rail has opened a £175 000  assisted travel lounge at Birmingham New Street station for use by passengers who need help getting between trains and the station concourse. Designed with the guidance of Birmingham New Street’s accessibility forum, the lounge has bright multicoloured signs to aid the visually impaired,

Australia: Arc Infrastructure has awarded Dixon Construction a A$2m contract for the development of a depot in Kalgoorlie, including offices, a maintenance shed and a washing plant. Rio Tinto Iron Ore has awarded Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corp subsidiary Yurra a A$20m five-year contract for infrastructure maintenance on its Pilbara network. ‘Through

THIS is the latest DVD from the Ivo Peters Railway Archive Collection. Volume 4 features North Wales Narrow Gauge Steam, recorded on high quality 16mm colour film, from nearly 60 years ago.  Though the programme was originally released on VHS in 1988 the material has been totally re-mastered for DVD. 

USA: More than $326m in Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements and Special Transportation Circumstances grant funding for 45 rail infrastructure projects in 29 states has been announced by the Federal Railroad Administration. ‘These investments in inter-city passenger and freight rail will benefit surrounding communities, make grade crossings safer and improve

FRANCE: SNCF and Airbus Defence & Space signed a co-operation accord at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget on June 19.The agreement last three years and covers the development and adaptation of satellite geolocation technology, based on the EU’s Galileo and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Systems, for digital rail

A NEW House of Commons report has cast doubt on the need for HS2, and says that many of its benefits, such as increasing capacity, could be achieved in other ways at lower cost.The report is a Commons Library Briefing, written to inform MPs. These Briefings are not intended to

ScotRail takes action over non-compliant HSTsSCOTRAIL is advertising for a contractor who can fit waste tanks to HSTs which have yet to be refurbished for service north of the border. The programme of converting trains cascaded from Great Western Railway is running at least a year behind schedule, because work

Words: Nick Pigott As the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive in the world at the time, Kestrel promised a motive power revolution… but it turned out to be ‘too good for its own good’! Shunned by BR despite its 125mph speed potential, it vanished behind the Iron Curtain where it

DENMARK: The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to determine whether the public financing model for the Fehmarn Belt fixed link is aligned with EU state aid rules. Under the intergovernmental agreement between Denmark and Germany, Denmark will be the sole owner and will bear the full risk for the

THE LMS-Patriot Project is picking up the pace of construction of its Fowler ‘Patriot’ 4-6-0 No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior across three fronts as the November 2020 steaming target draws closer. Heritage Boiler Steam Services (HBSS) at Huyton, Liverpool, is making great strides with the assembly of No. 5551’s parallel boiler.  ‘Patriot’