Rail Baltica plan to bulk buy €1.1bn in track materials set to test uneven national financing
Rail Baltica has signed a new set of framework agreements for major track materials, as the project pushes ahead with bulk buying across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in an effort to cut costs and standardise delivery. But the €1.13bn joint procurement drive also throws fresh light on one of the project’s biggest weaknesses: trying to […]
Bicester East-West makes a North-South divide
The grand ambition of the East West Rail is to join the dreaming spires of Oxford and Cambridge. The brochure puts it less poetically: reconnecting two of England’s most productive knowledge clusters. But in the English site of Bicester, the scheme threatens to create a more immediate geographical reality: a town divided by a closed […]
HS2 to revise £2bn fleet contract with Alstom, Hitachi after route cuts force rethink on train length
The UK government is in talks with Hitachi and Alstom over reshaping the HS2 £2 billion train contract, after the decision to cancel the line beyond Birmingham left the project with more trains than it can use and designs that may no longer fit the revised route. The discussions come as ministers prepare to reveal […]
Three-day rail strike in Belgium gets underway
A three-day rail strike has begun in Belgium, with most long-distance services still operating but significant disruption expected on local and commuter routes. According to national operator SNCB/NMBS, around seven out of ten intercity (IC) trains are running on Monday, the first full day of the industrial action. Roughly half of local L trains and […]
Fire closes Glasgow Central Station
A devastating fire has caused major disruption in Glasgow, Scotland. The fire has completely stopped services at Glasgow Central. On Sunday, 8 March, Scotland’s busiest station was closed on one of the busiest days of operation. Central Station was forced to close on Sunday afternoon and will remain closed on Monday morning, possibly longer. The […]
Six months after crash, Lisbon’s heritage funiculars remain closed
On the 3rd of September last year, 16 people died after a crash on Lisbon’s Elevador da Glória funicular railway, operated by Carris. Six months later, all the heritage funiculars in the city remain closed, with no reopening expected yet. The Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents in Civil Aviation and Rail (GPIAAF) […]
NS reports profit from passenger transport for the first time since 2019
Dutch Railways (NS) reported a profit from passenger transport over 2025 for the first time since 2019, but its debt has risen to 1.2 billion euros. The rail operator attributed this result to price increases for train tickets and season tickets, a slight increase in passenger numbers and cost savings. This combination resulted in a […]
Hardt Hyperloop has been declared bankrupt
Dutch hyperloop company Hardt Hyperloop has been declared bankrupt by the court in The Hague. This is stated in the Central Insolvency Register, confirming earlier reports in Dutch media on the bankruptcy. Hardt Hyperloop, based in Rotterdam, was working on the development of technology to transport people at high speed through a vacuum tube in […]
Assaults on UK rail staff unacceptable, says union
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has called on the UK government to introduce a specific criminal offence for assaulting public transport workers. The union made the appeal ahead of a debate in the House of Lords (the upper chamber of parliament) on the proposed Crime and Policing Bill. Subscribe to […]
The Signalling Company’s unique ETCS solution wins RailTech Innovation Award
The Signalling Company has won the RailTech Innovation Award 2026, announced during the networking dinner at RailTech Europe on 4 March. The jury, combined with an audience vote of attendees, ultimately won the company’s innovative software-defined ETCS system the award. The result was revealed during the dinner event, where the jury confirmed that the decision […]