Paul Comfort recently returned from a 10 day tour of public transport in Australia where he was a guest speaker at AusRail, the Australasian Railway Association’s annual conference and met with numerous national rail leaders. From that trip he brings this report.

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. 

Although a firm start date for repairs to the landslip at the Severn Valley Railway’s Mor Brook bridge remains unknown, huge progress has been made in recent weeks. The railway has also shared details of how the work will be undertaken.

Network Rail has appointed Henry Boot Construction, part of Henry Boot, to build a new sustainable Maintenance Delivery Unit (MDU) in Barnetby, North Lincolnshire.

TransPennine Express’s managing director, Chris Jackson, has been appointed a patron of a charity which provides vital support to those working in the public transport 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.