ABELLIO ScotRail marked the launch of its new fleet of Hitachi class 385 EMUs on July 23 with an inaugural passenger run from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley.

AN agreement on the co-ordination of ERTMS deployment on high-speed lines linking London, Paris and Brussels was signed on July 19 by Mrs Dyan Crowther, chief executive of High Speed 1, Mr Patrick Jeantet, CEO of SNCF Network, Mr Luc Lallemand, director general of Infrabel, and Mr Michel Boudoussier, chief corporate officer of Channel Tunnel operator Getlink.

WELSH Transport Secretary Mr Ken Skates has called on the British government to provide more funding for the railway in Wales, citing low speeds, manual signalling and level crossings bringing traffic to a standstill up to 200 times a day.
“Wales has not received an equitable share of UK rail investment over a sustained period, denying us the economic benefits enjoyed elsewhere in the UK,” he says.

BRITAIN’s secretary of state for transport, Mr Chris Grayling, has confirmed electrification of the Manchester - York Trans-Pennine route will go ahead, following speculation that the government was planning to scrap the scheme.

A viable market exists for low-fares high-speed train services between Britain and France, according to a study commissioned by Channel Tunnel operator Getlink.

DYNAMIC testing of the first CAF class 397 ‘Nova 2’ EMU for British train operator TransPennine Express (TPE) began on the inner circuit at the VUZ Veilm test centre in the Czech Republic on the afternoon of July 3.

TRANSPORT for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has awarded a consortium of Bombardier UK and Kiepe Electric a £72m contract to supply 27 additional M5000 high-floor LRVs to boost capacity on the city’s Metrolink light rail network.

Britain’s regulator has launched an inquiry into the major disruption to train services on the Northern and Thameslink networks following the introduction of a new timetable on May 20. David Briginshaw reports.

BALFOUR Beatty opened its new Rail Innovation Centre at its Raynesway facility in Derby, Britain, on June 28.