It’s hard not to have a sense of groundhog day in rail currently. It feels that we’ve, over the course of the last decade at least, repeatedly been led back to the promise of a great change / rebrand / innovative approach that will transform the way we deliver railways in Britain.

This month, our editor, Elizabeth Jordan, moderated at UNIFE’s 33rd annual General Assembly in Brussels. The presentations and keynotes of the second morning culminated in a panel discussion looking at how there might be a perfect match between industrial and climate policies for a competitive European rail supply industry. 

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has published its response to the Government consultation on rail reform, “A railway fit for Britain’s future”.

Universal Signalling, a developer of innovative railway signalling and safety-critical systems, has successfully closed the first tranche of its pre-seed investment round. SFC Capital led the round, with additional funding provided by a group of business angels.

UNIFE has expressed their belief that investing €3 billion in a dedicated Rail Research Programme in the next EU Budget will help develop technologies to keep the European rail supply industry number one in the world, amid the global race to challenge its position.

Train travel is booming across the U.S., with North Carolina and Virginia seeing some of the highest traffic in the Southeast. In Fiscal Year 2024, the top stations in the region were the Staples Mill Road Station in Richmond, Va., and in Alexandria, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh, N.C, the Auto Train Station in Lorton, Va., and Norfolk, Va.

Eurostar has stated that it welcomes this independent study by the Office of Road and Rail. It confirms what Eurostar has said all along…

Sir Andrew Haines, Chief Executive of Network Rail, has advised the Board that he has decided to retire from the company in October 2025.