Events
Communications Based Train Control
Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) means different things to different people, so says Tom Lee from the Rail Standards and Safety Board who chaired a recent conference in London on the subject organised by Sagacity Media. The engineering / technical aspects are often not seen in the context of operations or passenger service and, whilst CBTC […]
Signalling and Telecoms
ADIF progressing with Mediterranean Corridor S&T upgrade
Spain's infrastructure manager, ADIF, has awarded a €44 million contract to upgrade the signalling along a stretch of the country's Mediterranean Corridor to a Bombardier/Thales consortium.
The contract, which is the second to be let by ADIF for the modernisation of...
Rail News
Slovakia pushes ahead with ERTMS overlay
Slovakia's state-owned rail operator Železnice Slovenskej Republiky (ŽSR) has awarded a €20 million for the rollout of ERTMS on a 250-kilometre route between Bratislava and the Czech border.
Kapsch CarrierCom and AŽD Praha have been awarded contracts to install the GSM-R system and ETCS Level 2 signalling...
Rail Business
Thales pre-qualifies for SSL signalling contract
Thales has been invited to tender for London Underground's Sub-Surface railway signalling contract.
The contract, which will see capacity increased markedly on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, the District line and Metropolitan line, had previously been let to...
Rail News
Consortium awarded Spanish ERTMS contract
A consortium comprising Alstom, Bombardier and Indra have been awarded a €410 million contract to overlay 310 kilometres of high-speed railway in Spain with ERTMS Level 2 signalling.
The contract covers a stretch of a new north-west route between Valladolid and...
Rail News
Dutch government plans full ERTMS rollout by 2030
European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) will be installed on Holland's busiest routes by 2028 following a ruling by the Dutch government.
ERMTS Level 2 will be rolled out across the Randstad region and on routes connecting the cities of Arnhem,...
Rail News
Thales to upgrade S&T at Ankara-Istanbul high-speed line station
Signalling and telecommunications systems at Turkey's Eskisehir station are to undergo a major upgrade.
Thales has been awarded a €10 million contract from state railway operator Turkish State Railways (TCDD) to install a ETCS Level 1 system at the station,...
Rail News
A framework for collaboration
Established to modernise and improve signalling infrastructure across the UK network, the National Signalling Framework is now in full swing. Announced in January 2012 (issue 89, March 2012), three framework agreements were awarded to Invensys (now Siemens Rail Automation), Signalling Solutions and Atkins. Primary and secondary contractors were appointed, covering eight geographical areas. These agreements […]
Infrastructure
Amtrak on course to meet PTC deadline
Amtrak has said it expects to meet a deadline set by the US government to install Positive Train Control (PTC) on all passenger railways by 2015.
Announcing its 2014 capital investment programme, Amtrak said it would continue its "aggressive" installation...
Rail News
Automation in railway control – The human factors
At 35,000 ft above the Atlantic Ocean, the pitot tubes (air speed sensors) iced up and failed (a known phenomenon) causing the auto-pilot to disengage. Writes David Bickell The inexperienced co-pilot did not know how to correctly react to the situation. The pilot returned to the cockpit after taking a rest but could not assimilate […]
Latest News
ORR review leads to 50% reduction in maximum fees for ticket refunds
New rules will mean that from 2 April the maximum fee that train operators and ticket retailers can charge...