In Numbers

26,000

According to the BBC, the UK’s heritage railway industry used 26,000 tonnes of coal annually before Covid-19.

$1.32bn

The Tanzanian Government has awarded a $1.32bn contract to two Chinese companies for the construction of a 341km rail line.

11,000

As part of the UK’s £1.2bn East Coast Main Line project, an 11,000-tonne tunnel is set to be installed to separate passenger and freight trains moving along the line.

40,000tpa

Danish shipping firm Maersk has installed its CAP02 free intermodal transport solution across 85% of its German inland rail services, which it says will save around 9,100tpa of CO2 emissions compared to conventional trains.

130km/h

Indian Railways has increased the speed of trains along its Golden Quadrilateral - Golden Diagonal (GQ-GD) route to 130km/h, according to multiple sources.

Projects

Nagpur Metro Rail Project

Nagpur Metro is a new mass rapid transport system (MRTS) developed in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. The MRTS covers a total length of 38.21km and is estimated to cost Rs86.80bn ($1.4bn). The Nagpur Metro encompasses two alignments, which include the north-south corridor and the east-west corridor.

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Redfern Station Upgrade

Redfern Station, the sixth busiest station in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, is being renovated to enhance accessibility and customer experience. Located in a very dense urban area of Sydney, Redfern Station is an important destination and a major hub in the rail network.

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Toulouse Aerospace Express (TAE)

Toulouse Aerospace Express (TAE) is a €2.7bn ($3.29bn) integrated project comprising the proposed third automated metro line and the Airport Express line in France’s Toulouse region.

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Coradia iLint Regional Train

Coradia iLint, the latest in the Coradia range of modular trains manufactured by Alstom Transport, is the world’s first passenger train to use hydrogen fuel cells for traction power.

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Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail

Jakarta-Bandung is a proposed high-speed rail project in Indonesia, connecting the capital city of Jakarta to the textile hub of Bandung. China was selected by the Indonesian Government over Japan to build the country’s first fast-train rail link, which is estimated to cost $6.07bn.

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In Quotes

Rail Delivery Group director of nations and regions Robert Nisbet, following the introduction of a third national lockdown in the UK:

“Rail companies played an important role in keeping key workers moving and supermarkets stocked during last year’s lockdowns. We are working closely with [the] government to ensure we run the right level of services to do so again. By increasing cleaning and providing better customer information, our people are ensuring that those who must travel can do so with confidence.”

Source: PMLive

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) administrator Ronald L. Batory, after the FRA announced that positive train control (PTC) technology is now in operation across 57,536 freight and passenger railroad route miles in the US:

“On behalf of extraordinary professionals at FRA and myself, I congratulate the railroads, particularly their frontline workers, as well as PTC system suppliers and vendors on this transformative accomplishment. Many industry associations, including the Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, American Public Transportation Association, Commuter Rail Coalition, National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association, Railway Supply Institute, and Railway Systems Suppliers, have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to supporting this unprecedented undertaking.”