On 24 June 2019, the House of Commons unanimously passed an amendment to the Climate Change Act that committed the UK to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Previously, the target had been 80 per cent …
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Heritage railways ready to provide manpower (RailBusiness)
Heritage railways across the UK are on standby to provide experienced staff to Network Rail, to fill key worker shortages expected to be caused by Covid-19 (coronavirus). In response to a call from Network Rail, …
Continue readingIndia converting sleeper trains to bed wards (Quartz)
Indian Railways has offered to join the fight against coronavirus. On March 28, railway minister Piyush Goyal said his team could convert coaches of some trains into isolation wards. Following a nation-wide lockdown that began …
Continue readingMail returns to West Coast Main Line (RailFreight)
Britain’s commercial backbone railway is carrying everything vital to the continued economic activity of the UK. That includes the Royal Mail. With greatly reduced passenger services now running, freight has become far more visible on …
Continue readingBART shifts to station work during slowdown (ProgRailroading)
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) crews are taking advantage of a 90 percent drop in ridership and early station closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic to work on capital improvement projects. BART moved 200 maintenance and engineering …
Continue readingNR hunts for new tunnelling methods (NewCivilEng)
Network Rail Infrastructure is asking the industry to come up with alternative tunnelling techniques that could reduce disruption to the railways. In the request for information (RFI) notice on the Official Journal of European Union, it is …
Continue readingCOVID-19 prompts more robot usage (RobotReport)
The novel coronavirus has increased interest in robots, drones, and artificial intelligence, even as some testing of autonomous vehicles pauses on public roads. These technologies can help deal with massive staffing shortages in healthcare, manufacturing, and …
Continue readingTitanium dioxide proven for disinfecting trains (RailTech)
Titanium dioxide has proved its efficiency for cleaning and disinfecting trains. It reduces the number of bacteria inside the carriages up to 99 per cent. The tests have been carried out by the Polish regional …
Continue readingFree EBike loan for London health workers (TheVerge)
Key National Health Service (NHS) workers in London are being offered a three-month e-bike loan to help them commute to work while social distancing. There are currently 20 Gocycle GS loaner e-bikes available, with more …
Continue readingSNCF deploys hospital TGV for COVID (RailwayGazette)
SNCF has started transporting Covid-19 patients using a TGV Duplex trainset that has been has adapted as a mobile hospital unit. It is being used to evacuate recuperating patients from hot spot areas where the …
Continue readingMore robots assisting railways (RailTech)
The spread of coronavirus around the world and particularly in Europe has made the use of unmanned technologies more vital. In this regard, robots could be a solution for cleaning and disinfecting trains or stations. Where …
Continue readingAir pollution & spread of COVID-19 infection (SIMA)
To date, several scientific studies focused on viruses diffusion among humans demonstrated that increased incidence of infection is related to airborne particulate matter (PM) concentration levels [1,2]. It is known that PM fractions (e.g., PM2.5 …
Continue readingCOVID-19 highlights need for freight analytics (GreenBiz)
COVID-19 shines a spotlight on flexible, digital freight – not enough masks and ventilators in one COVID-19 country hotspot. A lack of testing kits in another. Toilet paper, baby wipes, milk and eggs emptied off …
Continue readingGermFalcon Airliner UV sterilizer (IEEESpectrum)
Flight of the GermFalcon: how a potential Coronavirus-killing airplane sterilizer was born. Dimer UVC’s ultraviolet germ zapper took some very hands-on design work. Dr. Arthur Kreitenberg and his son Elliot got some strange looks when …
Continue readingB’ham to reopen Camp Hill Line for pax (RailBusiness)
The reopening of a former railway line in south Birmingham moved a step closer after a local passenger train travelled the route for the first time in nearly 80 years. The Camp Hill line has …
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