Andrew Grantham

CANADA: National passenger operator VIA Rail has awarded Stadler a C$1.6bn contract to supply 45 diesel-battery hybrid locomotives as part of its Long-Distance, Regional & Remote fleet modernisation programme. The contract was announced by the Canadian government and VIA Rail on July 29. Battery-hybrid traction system Stadler said the locos are being developed for ‘dependable…

UAE: The UAE’s first national mainline passenger rail service was launched with the start of introductory operations between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah on June 30. Additional stations in Dubai and Al Dhaid are to open with the official launch of the passenger network on September 30, followed by a station in Al Dhafra on December…

GERMANY: Infrastructure manager DB InfraGO and its suppliers are analysing ‘with the highest priority’ the exact cause of a failure of the GSM-R digital radio system which occurred during scheduled maintenance and brought all trains on the national rail network to a halt. The failure of the GSM-R network occurred at around 22.30 on June…

USA: Industry regulator the Surface Transportation Board has accepted for consideration a revised major merger application filed by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. However, it has asked the two railways to provide more details of their plan to form the USA’s first coast-to-coast rail freight operator. The original merger application running to nearly 7 000…

This week’s news from the global railway supply chain. Up to 200 current and prospective suppliers, partners and stakeholders participated in project promoter RB Rail’s Rail Baltica Industry Day on April 27. COO Marius Narmontas said ‘construction continues to accelerate: in Estonia, 107 km of main line and the Ülemiste terminal are under construction; in…

POLAND: Czech open access train operator RegioJet has announced its withdrawal from the Polish domestic market, alleging anti-competitive behaviour which the incumbent railway group has denied. Railway Gazette International looks at the claims and counterclaims. RegioJet announced its withdrawal from the Polish domestic market on April 9, claiming that ‘a strongly negative media campaign was…

UK: Long-distance passenger train operator CrossCountry has unveiled the first of its 70 Voyager inter-city diesel-electric multiple-units which are being refurbished by Alstom in a £75·1m programme funded by leasing company Beacon. Andrew Grantham reports from Derby.

Co-founders Alex Haag  and Maximilian Schöffer  tell Andrew Grantham how Franco-German start-up Futurail is aiming to bring automation technology from the road sector to rail, where they see a great opportunity to build a Europe-based global champion. ‘The ultimate goal is simple. We want to build technology to make trains autonomous’, says Alex Haag, CEO of Franco-German startup Futurail,…

Co-founders Alex Haag and Maximilian Schöffer tell Andrew Grantham how Franco-German start-up Futurail is aiming to bring automation technology from the road sector to rail, where they see a great opportunity to build a Europe-based global champion.

UK: The first of four Department for Transport sponsored trials of GPS-based digital pay-as-you-go ticketing using smart phones rather than dedicated smartcards or contactless bank cards is now underway.