It has been a joy to compile Friday Reads, and many thanks to all those who have submitted links and suggestions. We present you with some inventive, insightful, and original links that you may have …
Continue readingYear: 2021
Beginners Guide to buying trains (Midnight-Trains)
Starting this week, we’ll take you behind the scenes of Midnight Trains HQ. And so why not start from the very top? Right now we’re going to explain how exactly we’re going about buying our trains. Without …
Continue readingBattery price declines slowing down (BloombergGreen)
BloombergNEF has just published the 2021 battery price survey, one of the most important pieces of research we carry out annually. The key takeaway: On a volume-weighted average basis across the battery industry, prices fell …
Continue readingEfficiency & the decline of US freight railroads (HomeSignal)
Over the last two years, the crisis of America’s supply chains, the push to expand public passenger rail service, and the urgency of the climate crisis have put America’s freight railroads in the limelight. These …
Continue readingHow technology can streamline rail procedures (MediaRail)
There is a ‘natural’ tendency to see railway technology as backward, inbred and both resistant and slow to adopt innovations from other industries. In fact, beyond technology, rail however must make a qualitative leap by …
Continue readingSiC semiconductor trial reduces tram noise & energy (Railway-News)
Siemens Mobility and Stadtwerke München have presented the results of a one-year test trialling silicone carbide (SiC) semiconductor technology in an Avenio tram. During the test phase, the vehicle travelled 65,000km. The test, a joint …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 27 December 2021
• Overground trains to call at Battersea Park station all day New Year’s Eve (IanVisits) • Vintage Views from the upper deck: London bus videos (LondonInBits) • A bold failure: Rise & fall of Big …
Continue readingJapan launches road-rail bus service (Coach&Bus)
Billed as ‘the world’s first operational dual-mode vehicle’, the ASA Seaside Railway Corporation in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, is set to launch a new vehicle into service on 25 December. The vehicle is described as ‘essentially …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 24 December 2021
• London sustainable Xmas shopping Tube Map (MappingLondon) • Night Overground services return for weekends (RailInsider) • Two great books for transit map lovers & creators (HumanTransit) • Duck Lanes added to UK urban canal …
Continue reading4G deal signed for Tube tunnels & stations (IanVisits)
The company rolling out mobile phone coverage on the London Underground has signed its first two commercial contracts, with Three and EE. Although Wi-Fi coverage is available in the stations for all networks except Vodafone, and …
Continue readingLA Metro trialing contactless hot gas tunneling (Wired)
IN THE 1970S, US government researchers imagined digging through rock with a nuclear-powered tunneling machine. They thought this machinery could change the world by traveling through the Earth’s upper mantle like a submarine moves through water, …
Continue readingTrain windows as information displays (GlobalRailway)
With SmartMMI technology, public transport passengers can receive up-to-date information about their journeys – directly on their adjacent train window. SmartWindows is an intelligent data integration system using situational filtering and context-based visualisation of information. …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 20 December 2021
• Expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone ULEZ 1st month success (OnLondon) • How a London suburb reduced its morning traffic by 53% (FastCompany) • The history & construction of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (LondonInheritance) • …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 17 December 2021
• Treasury blocked £30bn rail electrification (NewCivilEng) • TfL funding crunch could cost London 12bn+ over 10 yrs (IanVisits) • Historical accurate moquettes in new Last Train to Xmas film (Guardian) • Karlsruhe city centre …
Continue readingUK rail depot renewable energy project (RailTechnology)
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has strengthened its commitment to sustainability through a new cooperative energy project with climate action group Energy Garden. London’s Streatham Hill depot has been transformed into a local source of renewable …
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