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Analysis of recent developments in the global rail industry, including policy and regulatory issues affecting the passenger, freight and infrastructure sectors, as well as selected Comment and Viewpoint features from Railway Gazette publications.
How many people does it take to run a train? The answer, of course, depends on the type of train, the location, and whether you include staff on and off the vehicles. But the question is constantly being asked by both freight and ... more
The result of the UK's referendum on its membership of the European Union sent shockwaves across Europe. Yet while the UK's relationship with the EU will never be the same again, the short-term implications for the European railway sector should not be so dramatic. ... more
Retaining ambitions one day to accede to the European Union and playing a potentially significant role in pan-European transit freight, Turkey has for many years been seeking to liberalise its railway market broadly in line with EU policy. Some progress has been made, but much more legislation has still to be enacted and timescales for ending TCDD’s monopoly are still unclear. ... more
EUROPE: Tabled by the European Commission in January 2013, the Fourth Railway Package includes six legislative measures aimed at 'completing the Single European Railway Area to ... more
ERTMS: ‘Train control is not enough’, suggested UIC Director-General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux in his opening remarks to the 12th ERTMS World Conference, hosted in Brussels last month by Infrabel. He argued that future signalling ... more
'Technical advances have to be considered and treated as part of an overall risk reduction strategy.' ... more
With her review of Network Rail's structure and financing expected to be published in March, HS1 CEO Nicola Shaw outlined her thinking to the Railway Study Association in London. ... more
RUSSIA: Russian Railways will have to adopt a more customer-focused strategy and improve the quality of services if it is to increase revenue in 2016, new President Oleg Belozerov warned in mid-December. Discussing the ... more
The EU's Fourth Railway Package raises the prospect of significant market opening in the domestic passenger market across Europe. As Mike George of insurance provider Willis Group explains, this heralds a major opportunity for new entrants with entrepreneurial zeal - but only if they understand fully a panoply of operational and cultural challenges. ... more
Having largely missed out on a generation of skilled young recruits in the past 15 to 20 years, the US railway engineering sector is working hard to catch up by encouraging educational institutions to support rail-related courses. But changing cultural and behavioural patterns among young people means the rail sector must remain forward-looking, argues Brian Lindamood of Arema. ... more