A special test event saw 250 volunteers board Great Western Railway’s battery train to help provide valuable insight for its industry-leading trial. The ‘High Passenger Load’ operation tested energy consumption and will form part of …
Continue readingAuthor: Long Branch Mike
Transpennine Route Upgrade Work & Electrification Ramps Up: Video (RailFocus)
This video looks at the progress that has been made in and around Huddersfield station, and looks at the upcoming closure of the route through Huddersfield. Transpennine Route Upgrade Work & Electrification progress video
Continue readingNew Flyer have cracked the electric bus market. How did they do it? (ElectricAutonomy)
Many companies are having mixed experiences in Canada’s EV ecosystem lately, but (at least from the outside) Winnipeg-based New Flyer Industries doesn’t seem to be one of them. To industry spectators, New Flyer — a …
Continue readingSwitzerland, where the Post still takes the train (Mediarail)
Swiss Post has long relied on rail transport for the delivery of letters and parcels. Switzerland has become a virtual exception, while in other European countries, “small parcels” and mail no longer travel by train …
Continue readingScotRail Begins Trials of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil – HVO – fuel (Railway-News)
ScotRail has begun trialling Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as an alternative to diesel in one of its Class 156 train units. The trial was initiated on 19 February, and is set to run for 12 …
Continue readingPlans Submitted for the Future Modernised Cardiff Central Railway Station (TfW)
The full business case for the proposed improvements at Cardiff Central station was submitted at the end of last year and planning documents will be submitted soon. The delivery of the scheme is subject to …
Continue readingWest London Orbital: Progress & Feasibility (Permanent Way Institute – PWI)
We [DEM Overground] have been working with Network Rail who have undertaken timetable assessment, traction power modelling, and internal sponsorship activities for the scheme. To read the Technical Presentation To watch the West London Orbital …
Continue readingRenewable Energy-On-Rails Scheme To Cure Transmission Line Blues (CleanTechnica)
Renewable energy developers in the US are facing a bottleneck of epic proportions as they jockey for limited space on the nation’s aging network of long distance transmission lines. Building new transmission infrastructure would help, …
Continue readingExpensive, slow battery locomotives have no place on already electrified rails (EffectiveTransitAlliance)
The MTA’s vote on Wednesday to buy experimental battery locomotives for Penn Station Access [2] (PSA) is fiscally irresponsible, and threatens to hamstring our regional rail network’s ability to deliver frequent, fast, and reliable service …
Continue readingNetwork Rail trials helicopter surveys to spot failures before they happen (IMechE)
The unique perspective provided by a bird’s eye view can often reveal issues that go unnoticed on the ground, giving engineers an opportunity to spot potential failures before they happen. Network Rail took advantage of …
Continue readingMidlands Connect rail link could save over 13 million minutes a year (RailBusinessDaily)
Leicester’s City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby joined Midlands Connect and business leaders to pledge their support for the proposed rail link between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham. At the meeting, at the station, attendees were told that 13.5 …
Continue readingHigh-Speed Rail & Decarbonization (PedestrianObservations)
I keep seeing European advocates for decarbonizing transportation downplay the importance of big infrastructure, especially high-speed rail. To that end, I’d like to proffer one argument for why high-speed rail decarbonizes transportation even when it …
Continue readingLR Update March 2025 – Interested in Joining Us?
The following is a public service announcement from London Reconnections: During the pandemic London Reconnections basically ran on a skeleton staff basis. But we have slowly rebuilt our capacity to produce long form content on …
Continue readingState of European Transport 2025: Cities (Transport&Environment)
Cities are cleaning up transport faster than countries, introducing ambitious goals that go beyond European and national policies. The first zero-emission zones (ZEZ) are already in force, and a total of 35 such zones are …
Continue readingHigh-visibility clothing may thwart pedestrian crash prevention sensors (InsuranceInstForHighwaySafety)
The clothing that makes pedestrians stand out to human drivers may make them invisible to automated crash prevention systems, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests. “These results suggest that some …
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