SWITZERLAND: Högg Group company Simplify Engineering has received the first order for its latest design of automated train-mounted wheelchair lift. It offers deployment and retraction at the touch of a button, and can accommodate boarding …
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Colas Rail UK Embraces Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (RailTech)
In a significant step towards a greener rail industry, Colas Rail UK has recently conducted trials using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as an alternative to diesel fuel in their locomotives. This move aims to significantly …
Continue readingThe consulting industry has infantilised governments (Channel4News)
How can the government attract the country’s best minds to work for them? How do we know when a private sector contract is a good one? And what can we learn from NASA about business …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 5 June 2023
• TfL to buy more Elizabeth line trains to serve Old Oak Common HS2 temp terminus (OnLondon) • Former High Speed Rail College to close at the end of July (BBC) • Public inquiry on …
Continue readingHS2 learns from Crossrail mistakes in control centre design (NewCivilEng)
High Speed 2 (HS2) bosses visited the nerve centres of Crossrail and Sizewell B as part of a painstaking process to design the heartbeat of the £100bn line, a key figure has revealed. HS2 Ltd …
Continue readingManchester rail plans rethought after 9 years of promises weren’t delivered (RailwayGazette)
Network Rail has withdrawn a planning application for rail infrastructure works in Manchester, Rail Minister Huw Merriman confirmed during a visit to the city on May 25. The plan included additional through platforms 15 and 16 …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 2 June 2023
• A train ride makes everything better, there are always people you can talk to: Video (GeoffMarshall) • Why the revolutionary Rotodyne failed in city centre transport: Video (Mustard) • The painful consequences of liking …
Continue readingThe Bus Rapid Transit – BRT – Standard & Scorecard (ITPD)
This scorecard shows the criteria and point values that make up the BRT Standard, including a description of each category. THE BRT BASICS (38 points) Dedicated Right-of-Way Busway Alignment Off-board Fare Collection Intersection Treatments Platform-level …
Continue readingFirst Volvo electric double decker buses enter service in Cambridge (BusNews)
Volvo has delivered 30 new Volvo BZL Electric double-decker buses to Stagecoach East in Cambridge, UK. These vehicles are the first of their kind to be delivered in the UK and will operate across multiple …
Continue readingAlstom’s Chinese partner demonstrates new generation traction system (RailAdvent)
Alstom‘s Chinese joint venture, Alstom NUG Propulsion System Co. Ltd has recently demonstrated a train in China powered by a new generation of silicon carbide and a permanent magnet motor propulsion system. The train was demonstrated with passengers on …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 29 May 2023
• Is renationalising more UK train services a viable strategy? (FutureRail) • Politicians’ cries of ‘The War on Cars’ fails to move voters (NewStatesman) • Brussels’ Good Move mobility plan cuts tram & bus delays …
Continue readingElectric buses outsell diesels in Europe for first time (ICCT)
For well over one hundred years, the internal combustion engine has reigned supreme over our roads. For one small but significant transport sector, the humble city bus, its reign has neared its end. The most …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 26 May 2023
• England rail passengers could lose WiFi access in DfT cost cuts (Guardian) • How train WiFi works & why it’s under threat in England (Guardian) • Effect of UK sustainable mobility policies on urban …
Continue readingWhy not cover ugly parking lots with solar panels? (Wired)
In France, a plan to cover swaths of asphalt with photovoltaics will bring renewable energy even closer to urban areas where it’s needed. A BACKLASH AGAINST industrial-size solar farms is brewing. At least 75 big solar …
Continue readingPoem on the Opening of the Elizabeth line: First Anniversary
With thanks to Jonathan Baggs MCIPR for this poem and allowing us to republish it on the anniversary of the final stage opening of the Elizabeth line 24 May 2022. Twas the Night before Crossrail, …
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