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SCOTRAIL has unveiled the interiors for its new Class 385 EMUs. Hitachi is building 70 sets at its County Durham factory – 46 three-car and 24 four-car trains. Each pair of seats will have power sockets, and there will be increased luggage space and free wi-fi, as well as space for cycles, a flexible storage…

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GOVIA Thameslink Railway has introduced new Class 700 EMUs on Great Northern line services from Peterborough to London King’s Cross. Initially, there are two peak-hour diagrams, but as more sets are delivered the number of diagrams will increase, ahead of the May timetable change. At this point, the Class 700s will work from the East…

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IN a surprise move, Devon & Cornwall Railways (DCR) has put its entire 12-loco fleet up for sale. The tender for the sale was announced on November 10 by BARS (British American Railway Services) via the RMS Locotec arm of the operation, and is for six Class 31 and six Class 56 locos. The sole operational loco,…

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THE CZECH Republic has no fewer than three open access operators – all of which compete with national operator ČD on parts of the same main line route from Prague to Ostrava via Olomouc – and all three are expanding their operations from December. Czech long-distance bus operator Student Agency started open access inter-city services…

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BOTH Czech Railways (České dráhy: ČD) and Slovak national operator ZSSK are planning to use leased Siemens ‘Vectron’ locos from December 10. The new locos will replace older Škoda-built locos, originally built for Czechoslovak Railways (ČSD), operating Eurocity international express trains on the route from Budapest to Berlin. This means within months these services will…

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ALSTOM has won a contract to supply three more ‘Coradia Nordic’ four-car 160km/h type X61 EMUs to Swedish regional concession Östgötatrafiken, which will add to their current fleet of 15 similar trains. The concession for Östgötapendeln services centred on Norrköping, in southern Sweden, is currently run by Arriva. The new trains will be delivered in…

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BUENOS Aires metro (Subte) operator Metrovías and the government of Buenos Aires are restoring 20 of the original 1913 vintage Subte coaches to working condition for the operation of tourist services in the future. The first test operation on September 2, organised with just 48 hours notice, saw 7,000 people apply for the 270 tickets…

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CAPACITY on the busy Long Island Railroad (LIRR), serving New York City and the 7.5million people who live on Long Island, will be increased by 80% once a recently announced $5.6billion infrastructure improvement programme is completed. In total, 100 separate projects are included, the main one being the addition of a third track to 9.8…

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PERUVIAN operator PeruRail (owned by British luxury travel company Belmond) has now introduced four of the eight new diesel-electric locos it has ordered to operate services on the 914mm-gauge route from Cusco to Machu Picchu. The locos were originally ordered in mid-2014 from American firm Sygnet Rail Technologies, based in Tenino, in Washington State, USA…

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BELMOND’S disposal of the ‘Northern Belle’ luxury dining train was completed in November. The new owners of the train are David Pitts, boss of marketing agency DP Publicity (DPP), and David Smith, owner of West Coast Railways (WCR). Once the busy Christmas and new year programme is completed, the train will move from its current…

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