UK: West Midlands Trains put its first Class 230 ‘D-Train’ DMU into passenger service on April 23, working the Marston Vale route between Bletchley and Bedford, which forms part of its London Northwestern Railway business unit. The Abellio-led franchise operator ordered the three two-car units from Vivarail to provide extra capacity

CANADA: The City of Ottawa and TransitNEXT consortium leader SNC Lavalin have formally declared Stadler the winner of a contract to supply seven four-car Flirt diesel-electric multiple-units. The C$106m order confirmed on April 23 has been placed as part of the Trillium Line extension project. Forming part of the city’s O-Train

THE first example of Vivarail’s refurbished D-Trains is carrying passengers on West Midlands Trains.The inaugural service left Bedford at 05.16 this morning, bound for Bletchley. Three of the Class 230 units will soon be operating on the Marston Vale line, which is part of the future East West Rail link, The landmark

USA: Shortline group Ironhorse Resources has acquired the Sequatchie Valley Railroad and the Walking Horse & Eastern Railroad in Tennessee, which are to be renamed as the Sequatchie Valley Switching Co and the Walking Horse Railroad. The 18 km Sequatchie Valley Switching Co serves south central Tennessee from a connection with

A NEW report from the London Assembly is accusing London transport commissioner Mike Brown of ‘watering down’ the information about potential Crossrail delays which was given to the Mayor, and questions whether he should keep his job.The report, ’Derailed: getting Crossrail back on track’, analyses what went wrong, and why

RUSSIA: United Wagon Co is expanding its range with the development of two side tipping wagons for the transport and automated discharge of aggregates and ore. The wagons were designed by UWC’s All-Union Research & Development Centre for Transportation Technology and are currently undergoing certification, ahead of the planned start of

TURKEY: Infrastructure manager TCDD has begun testing signalling equipment developed by Yapı Merkezı Idis, the industrial controls and communications subsidiary of construction group Yapı Merkezı.The company has installed an interlocking, fixed block signals and level crossing control units compatible with future deployment of ERTMS. The equipment was commissioned on April

A decision by the Department for Transport (DfT) to award the East Midlands rail franchise to Abellio in the face of the disqualification of incumbent Stagecoach could have far reaching effects on rail franchising. The decision could lead to the Virgin Trains name disappearing, company founder Sir Richard Branson

Chris Milner met centenarian Ron Buckley, a railway photographer with a fascinating past, who took his first railway picture in the 1930s, but also spent more than 40 years employed by both the LMS and BR. Most of us hope for a long and fruitful life and for centenarian Ron

Afghanistan: Kazakh company Integra Construction has won a contract to build 43 km of the Khaf – Herat railway. The Aktobe steelworks is to supply 350 000 tonnes of rail. Egypt: Alstom has commissioned a Smartlock 400 computer-based interlocking at Maghagha, its second on the 240 km route from Beni Suef