HS2 in Birmingham reaches foundation marker
Engineers in Birmingham have finally hammered home the last of the 2,011 concrete piles. The city’s ears are still ringing. The work was required to support the foundations of the HS2 showpiece Birmingham Curzon Street station. While the silence might be golden, the completion of this subterranean forest of concrete marks a pivotal shift from […]
RailTech Europe ’26 opens in Utrecht with focus on net-zero delivery
RailTech Europe ’26 opened its doors today in Utrecht, as Europe’s rail community gathered at the Jaarbeurs conference centre for two days of debate on decarbonisation, resilience and the sector’s strategic direction. Day 1 was dedicated to one central question: how to turn net-zero ambition into delivery across policy, infrastructure and operations. With “Get on […]
Leo Express expands competition in Poland with launch of Warsaw–Kraków route
Czech open-access operator Leo Express has launched regular domestic services between Warsaw and Kraków, entering one of Poland’s core intercity corridors as it strengthens its international links to Prague in a major expansion drive that brings ever more competition to the Polish network. The private Czech operator began running the new trains on Sunday 1 […]
Signaling X: Siemens Mobility’s ‘cloud revolution’ in rail signalling
Siemens Mobility is positioning Signaling X as the backbone of a new, cloud-based era in rail signalling, bringing modular software architecture, standardised interfaces and embedded cybersecurity into a single digital platform. The company will be presenting the project at RailTech Europe, which gets under way tomorrow in Utrecht. Rail signalling is entering a new technological […]
RailTech Europe ’26 exhibition: Workshops, innovations and digital rail take centre stage
RailTech Europe ’26 opens its doors this week on 4 and 5 March in Utrecht, bringing together industry leaders, innovators and policymakers for two days of exhibition, workshops and a conference. The event, hosted at the Jaarbeurs, will feature a diverse workshop programme, alongside companies presenting their newest innovations, and important sector discussions on the […]
Budapest–Belgrade freight begins under restrictions as ETCS delays cloud passenger launch
After four years of reconstruction and more than €2bn in investment, Hungary’s section of the Budapest–Belgrade railway has finally seen its first freight trains. But behind the symbolic restart lies a more complicated operational reality. While traffic has technically begun on the 160-kilometre stretch, key elements of the line’s control system remain uncommissioned, capacity is […]
Mediterranean Corridor split: Spain to meet 2030 ETCS target while France delays
Spain is set to complete its section of the Mediterranean Corridor by 2030, but France is not planning to deploy ETCS on the connecting stretch until 2042, despite ETCS deployment being part of the Core Network requirements. Since 2018, the Spanish government has tendered over €7 billion to advance the Mediterranean Corridor, with ERTMS implementation […]
These are the 3 final nominees of the RailTech Innovation Award
The finalists for the RailTech Innovation Award 2026 are The Signalling Company, Voestalpine Track Solutions, and GeoNext, showcasing cutting-edge advancements in digital signalling, sustainability, and AI-driven rail analysis. The three finalists will pitch their innovations at the RailTech Europe networking dinner in Utrecht on March 4, 2026, where the winner will receive the award. The […]
WESTbahn starts competing with ÖBB on Austria’s Südbahn
Private open-access operator WESTbahn has begun operations on Austria’s Südbahn or Southern Railway for the first time, entering into direct competition with state-owned ÖBB on the Vienna–Graz–Klagenfurt–Villach corridor with what it calls the country’s “fastest trains”. After months of preparation, WESTbahn launched services on 1 March, marking its long-anticipated move onto the Southern Railway. Trains […]
Inside the Elizabeth Line’s next-gen Alstom trains
Railway industry eyes have been fixed on the high-profile refurbishment of CrossCountry’s Voyager fleet. However, a far more significant project has been quietly gathering pace deep within Alstom’s Derby Litchurch Lane Works. Well, not very quietly, actually. We recently went “undercover” at the UK’s only full-cycle train manufacturing facility to witness the birth of ten […]