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4 December 2013 | By Stephen Hammond MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, UK
It is 20 years since Britain’s railways were privatised. At the time it was seen as a risky move, even though the network had grown increasingly unreliable and inefficient under state operator British Rail. Responsibility for tracks and trains was split, and private companies were invited to bid for regional…
4 December 2013 | By Alex Hynes, Managing Director, Northern Rail
Operating 2,500 services every day, Northern Rail serves an area stretching from the Scottish Borders down to Nottingham and Stoke and from Southport and Sellafield in the West to Whitby and Hull in the East. It’s a wide ranging landscape of rural communities, market towns and bustling urban centres where…
4 December 2013 | By Network Rail
When the last round of redevelopment work began at Birmingham New Street in the 1960s, England were on the verge of winning the World Cup and rail travel was forecast to decline. Since then rail travel has enjoyed rather more success than the England football team and the station handles…
4 December 2013 | By Rupert Walker, Head of High-Speed Rail Development, Network Rail
Britain’s railways are booming. Last year, more than 1.5 billion journeys were made by train and the network moved around 100 million tonnes of goods. But railways do much more than just move people and freight; they connect homes and workplaces, businesses with markets, they create jobs, stimulate trade and…
4 December 2013 | By First Great Western
Running services out of London Paddington, across the South and West of England and South Wales, the former Greater Western franchise began operating on 1 April 2006. Operated by First Group and branded as First Great Western, the network combines the previous Great Western Intercity, London and Thames Valley, and…
4 December 2013 | By Peter Austin, Managing Director, London Overground Rail Operations Ltd
Since 2007, London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) has been actively transforming the London Overground network, modernising the service, improving facilities and providing a better, safer, more environmentally efficient and comfortable experience for its customers. And six years on, LOROL’s delivery of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) extensive investment in the…
4 December 2013 | By Clive Bradberry, Infrastructure Executive, Translink
In 2012/13, Translink rail passenger journeys reached a record breaking 11.5 million – an increase of 7% on the previous year. Overall, there were 78.5 million Translink passenger journeys on bus and train last year beating the Northern Ireland government’s target of 77 million. During the summer of 2013, Translink…
4 December 2013 | By Edd Stewart and Clive Roberts, Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, University of Birmingham
With a national rail network extending from Penzance in the south to Thurso in the north, the vast majority of the UK’s railway infrastructure rests in a moderately agreeable band between 50.12° and 58.59°. Even in this comparably comfortable region, however, we are still at the mercy of the seasons.…
4 December 2013 | By Matthieu Chabanel, Deputy General Director, Marketing and Planning, RFF
On 15 October 2012, Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) was ordered by Transport Minister, Frédéric Cuvillier, to table proposals to deliver major rail network modernisation (GPMR). Delivered to the Minister on 19 September 2013, the plan proposed is consistent with efforts to create a shared, long-term vision for rail transportation.…
4 December 2013 | By Frederik Allert, Product Engineer, Bombardier Transport France S.A.S.
BOMBARDIER1 FLEXX1 Compact is now a well-established name in the world of bogies for railway vehicles. There are currently more than 7,000 FLEXX Compact bogies in service or on order worldwide...
4 December 2013 | By Rütger Fenkes, Project Leader, TAP TSI
Not too long ago, travelling abroad by rail was a privilege reserved for a selected few. With poor telecommunications, reservations made by telephone and recorded on manual reservation coupons, journeys had to be arranged well in advance. Likewise, the focus of the former national railway administrations was on domestic travellers.…
High-speed rail; Spain & Portugal profile; Swedish profile; Research & Development; Freight; Rolling Stock Design; and much more...
In this High-Speed supplement: The potential of high-speed rail: CER’s perspective; Thalys: a model of highspeed mobility; HS2: building a connected Britain; Putting into service the Albacete to Alicante high-speed section...
26 September 2013 | By Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, Minister of Infrastructure, Sweden
Increased influence for customers and public transport actors creates better conditions for the railway to enhance its competitiveness. Swedish railway reforms of the past 25 years have been based on this premise, together with state responsibility for management of the rail network run by an independent infrastructure manager. The result…
26 September 2013 | By Pedro Fortea, Director, MAFEX
As the result of a strong commitment to research and development, the Spanish rail industry has made available to the international market a modern fleet of rolling stock vehicles for all kinds of transportation for both passengers and goods, plus the offering of skilled train maintenance services as well as…
