GOVIA Thameslink sent its first Great Northern route Class 313 for scrap on April 8.   Angel Trains-owned set No. 313026 was dispatched to Sims Metals Newport behind DRS Class 57 No. 57312 on long-term hire to Rail Operations Group. The following day, set No. 313050 was sent to C F Booth for

EUROPE: Czech rail and coach operator Leo Express is to increase its weekends-only Praha – Kraków open access rail service to run daily between June 28 and September 2, with a connecting coach link to Lviv in Ukraine. ‘People in Poland love Leo Express’, said CEO Peter Köhler on May 30.

Germany: DB has begun a €30m project to install Icomera wi-fi technology across its inter-city fleet by 2021. Hamburger Hochbahn is to use a Worldline SAM server for online and app payments as part of the conversion of its tickets from UIC barcode to VDV-KA standards. Italy: Dassault Systèmes is to

MORE strikes are to be staged on South Western Railway in June, after talks with the RMT failed again.The union said there would be five consecutive 24-hour walkouts by drivers and guards between 18 and 22 June inclusive. The RMT has also accused SWR of ‘rowing back on their public pledges’,

FIRSTGROUP: ‘We have concerns with the current balance of risk and reward being offered’ by UK passenger rail franchises, warned FirstGroup Chief Executive Matthew Gregory when presenting the train and bus operator’s annual results on May 30. Gregory said FirstGroup would await the government’s Williams review of the structure of the

The mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool have called for Northern Rail to be stripped of its franchise, accusing it of “consistently failing”. Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham said Transport Secretary Chris Grayling should terminate the franchise as soon as possible. In a joint statement, they said Northern had “consistently

FRANCE: The CDG Express project to provide a dedicated airport express between central Paris and Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport is to be delayed by two years, Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne announced on May 28.Running for 32 km between Paris-Est and the LGV Interconnexion station at Charles-de-Gaulle airport Terminal 2, CDG Express will

LATVIA: Design and build contracts for the reconstruction of Riga Central station as a multimodal transport hub with provision for 1 435 mm gauge services were signed on May 29 by Latvia’s Rail Baltica implementation agency Eiropas Dzelzceļa Līnijas and the Besix Rere Group. EDL selected the joint venture of Belgium’s Besix

EUROPE: Stadler has announced an order which it describes as ‘a landmark event in the European market’, with leasing company European Loc Pool becoming the first customer for its 9 MW six-axle TSI-compliant multi-system electric locomotive design. The 10 locomotives ordered by ELP will be suitable for use in Germany, Austria,

OUTDATED Pacer diesel trains could find new lives as community centres or village halls, according to the Department for Transport.The economically-built Classes 141, 142 and 143 units were built in the 1980s by British Rail as a way of replacing first-generation diesel multiple units on local lines without spending more