Canada’s Bombardier and Germany’s Siemens are in the final stages of talks to combine their rail operations, several sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, in a deal that would give the two added heft to compete against Chinese rail giant CRRC. The deal, which would create two separate joint ventures for their signalling and rolling-stock divisions, could be announced as early as August, the sources said… One source said Bombardier and Siemens would have to sell off ...

First, let’s start with what we can all agree on: most contemporary transit advertising in the US sucks. A lot of it is very flat and bureaucratic, unimaginative, and oftentimes with a hokey gimmick. The examples Goffman offers are emblematic of this. Most contemporary transit promotion that I’ve seen falls into three general categories: 1) instructional videos, 2) ads that emphasize the benefits over driving, which often incorporate imagery of stressed drivers and high gas prices, or 3) ads ...

If you have something you feel we should read or include in a future list, please email us at [email protected] • TfL’s new speed limit map (Mapping London) • South Kensington station refurb (Rail Engineer) • Subway podcast, covering from New York to Delhi (Beeb Radio4) • Oslo Bans Parking instead of banning cars (FastCompany) • How jaywalking was made illegal (Beeb) • Canadian pension fund sells HS1 concession (Int’l Railway Journal) ...

OBB (the Austrian national rail operator) had spent many years operating successful long-distance inter-city services reaching out to the likes of Germany, Hungary, Italy and the Czech Republic, but budget airlines had started to nick both their passengers and their profits. It was time to reinvent their strategy and like many other operators had done across Europe, look to the skies to inspire their new rail product. In late 2005, the concept of ‘Railjet’ was born. However, in a reverse ...

Metrolinx scraps Eglinton Crosstown gas plant for ‘innovative’ battery solution. Residents of the Mount Dennis community are breathing easier after Metrolinx agreed to scrap plans to build a gas-fired power plant in their neighbourhood. The province says the facility, which is designed to provide supplementary power to the LRT, would increase reliability of the transit line, reduce its operating costs, and lower emissions. Full article

A new digital traffic management system (TMS) that could reduce reactionary delays by up to 15% is to be trialled between London Paddington and Bristol Parkway. Called ‘Luminate’, the innovative system uses computer algorithms to take into account different types of trains running across the network to forecast their onward journey and highlight any potential conflict or delay. When it detects a possible disruption, the system then enables real-time replanning to happen quickly, allowing ...

How do you future-proof railway stations, metro hubs, and bus terminals? Architect Caroline Bos has a few pointers. What does the train station of the future look like? It’s a question that architects and urban planners must at least try to answer whenever they design new transit networks or terminals. Railway stations of the past are often beautiful (and occasionally loathed), but in a world where transit patterns and technology change rapidly, time is not typically kind to these expensive ...

The UK is expected to become a world-leading centre of railway expertise after a £92 million partnership has been established between RSSB, the rail supply industry and eight universities. Funding will be used to create three research hubs to develop centres of excellence. It follows a successful bid led by the University of Birmingham. The partnership, part of the newly-created UK Railway Research and Innovation Network, has won £28.1 million funding from the UK Research Partnership ...

If you have something you feel we should read or include in a future list, please email us at [email protected] • How tube stations got their funny names (Beeb) • Demonyms – not what you think, they’re names of city residents (Atlas Obscura) • Ideal city size, scientifically (Spectator) • TfL passengers complete one billion contactless payment journeys (Railway Technology) • Top 13 most delayed UK train routes (European Railway Review) • ...

Rail track laying is a technical and expensive task. Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK are using science to improve today’s maintenance and tomorrow’s design especially for high-speed rail routes. When a piece of track has expired or been damaged, maintenance is often too expensive or ineffective, therefore more rail operators are focused on coming up with solutions to refurbish or renew the tracks. Most railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails ...

Luton Borough Council, the owner of London Luton Airport, has approved the construction of a 2.3 km automated peoplemover linking the terminal building with Luton Airport Parkway station. The cost is put at £200m, with the peoplemover due to open by the end of 2020. Replacing the current bus link from the station is expected to cut the shortest journey times between central London and the airport to less than 30 min. Link to article

In 2016, there were 13,622 traffic collisions in Seattle resulting in 3,885 injuries, 166 serious injuries and 23 fatalities. The cost of all that property damage, injury and loss of human life: $222,827,800. Those stats come from a new data visualization tool that illustrates a decade of Seattle Department of Transportation crash data and uses National Safety Council standards to put a price on all that tragedy. Seattle-based web designer Tim Ganter worked with the advocates at Seattle ...

Total Transport: a better approach to commissioning non-emergency patient transport? ‘Total Transport’ schemes pool resources and vehicle fleets from across the public sector which are currently used to provide separate mainstream, social services, education and healthcare transport provision. Through pooling and coordination a better overall service can be provided at less cost to the taxpayer. However, it is proving challenging to get NHS non emergency patient transport services to ...

Why Roman concrete still stands strong while modern version decays: Scientists have cracked the secret to Roman water-based structures’ strength – and findings could help today’s builders. Their structures are still standing more than 1,500 years after the last centurion snuffed it: now the Romans’ secret of durable marine concrete has finally been cracked. The Roman recipe – a mix of volcanic ash, lime (calcium oxide), seawater and lumps of volcanic rock – held together piers, ...

If you have something you feel we should read or include in a future list, please email us at [email protected] Slow death and rebirth of Battersea Power Station (Mike Horne Metadyne) Vision Zero data shows decrease in pedestrian deaths (Governing) True costs of driving (The Atlantic) How Napping Commuters Know when it’s their stop (NY Magazine) Drone second responders (LA Times) LA transit art posters (LA Metro) Japanese railway staff point to safety (99% Invisible)