News

A NEW connection between Central Asia and Europe opened on October 30 when the 849km-long Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway opened. The new 1435mm-gauge section of line comprises 76kms, connecting the Turkish network with Kartsakhi in Georgia via a 4.4km-long tunnel under the mountainous border itself, and a further 29km of 1,435mm-gauge line in Georgia to connect…

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Hitachi’s plant in Japan has started work on the first two Class 802/2 bi-mode trains for TransPennine Express. The two trains, Nos. 802201 and 802202, will arrive in the UK later this year and are expected to start main line testing in the summer. The remainder of TPE’s fleet will be assembled at Hitachi Rail…

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ABBEY Wood’s striking new station building opened on schedule on October 22. It was delivered by Network Rail as part of the Crossrail project. The new building and concourse are the first part of an important new interchange between Southeastern suburban routes and the Elizabeth Line, opening in December 2018. Work continues to complete the…

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CONSTRUCTION work continues on Kenilworth’s new £13.6million station, with Warwickshire County Council still expecting it to open in December, writes Fraser Pithie. The single line was realigned towards the new platform at the end of October, but the second platform, stairs and lifts will be mothballed until the Milverton Junction to Kenilworth section of line…

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MID-November saw Network Rail install its first new overhead line masts on the Midland Main Line since the ‘BedPan’ electrification of the early-1980s. Around 40 masts were erected between Kettering and Corby, bolted to cylindrical steel piles, which were installed earlier this year. The installation follows preparatory work undertaken by NR in recent months, including…

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ENGINEERING consultant WSP has suggested London’s open-air rail routes could provide a solution to the capital’s housing crisis. WSP believes ‘boxing in’ around 10% of the city’s 1,142km of surface railways could create enough space to develop around 250,000 new homes – enough to satisfy demand for five years at current levels of growth. Since…

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NETWORK Rail has permanently stabilised half a mile of subsiding embankment beneath the Chiltern main line in Buckinghamshire, using a novel Japanese system. NR engineers used a Giken silent piling machine to drive 865 six-metre steel sheet piles deep into the earth and form solid barriers either side of the railway at Bridge Farm, near…

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COVENTRY City Council has released images of the proposed new look for the city’s station – which is reported to be the fastest growing outside London. The £82million scheme will include the creation of a second footbridge to connect all four platforms and extend the platforms, a second entrance onto Warwick Road with step-free access…

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BRIDGE strikes, where over-height road vehicles collide with railway bridges, are costing UK taxpayers more than £23million a year in damages and delays, according to new industry figures. Network Rail reports the problem reaches its peak in October/November ,with around 10 incidents per day, but around 2,000 strikes every year affect hundreds of thousands of…

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BELMOND’s ‘Grand Hibernian’ luxury train ventured onto new metals on October 24 as part of a trial that took the train from Limerick to Dublin via Athenry. In many respects the trial was inconclusive as the train engine was Class 071 No. 073, and not one of the Class 201s, which have yet to travel over…

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