Coronavirus news – Page 6
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Rail Business UKGrand Central to restart services
UK: Grand Central is to restart services on December 3 as the lockdown restrictions in England change, but the open access operator warned that it would only be offering a reduced and reservation-only timetable and no onboard catering. ‘While it’s great to be back, we can’t emphasise ...
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Rail Business UKRailtex and Infrarail postponed to September 2021
UK: The Railtex and Infrarail trade fairs have been postponed to September 7-9 2021, organiser Mack-Brooks Exhibitions has confirmed. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the organiser decided that the Infrarail 2020 event which was to have been held at London’s Olympia on May 12-14 this year would ...
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Metro Report InternationalSydney travel app adds social distancing information
AUSTRALIA: Transport for New South Wales has worked with Amazon Web Services, digital services company Tigerspike and transport software developer AppJourney to add physical distancing and passenger occupancy notifications for Sydney Trains and metro services to the Opal Travel app. Passengers can receive real time alerts about ...
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Metro Report InternationalEight Covid-19 mitigation technologies to be tested by transport operators
USA: Eight finalists have been selected for the Transit Innovation Partnership Covid-19 Response Challenge, a global competition seeking to evaluate technologies to increase public transport safety and responsiveness during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Rail Business UKHull Trains and Grand Central to suspend services again
UK: Open access operators Hull Trains and Grand Central are to suspend services again as England enters a second period of coronavirus lockdown running for four weeks from November 5. The open access companies operate on a purely commercial basis, and were not entitled to the government ...
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Metro Report InternationalTransport for London and government agree six-month funding package
UK: Transport for London confirmed on the morning of November 1 that an agreement had been reached for the Department for Transport to make further emergency funding available to address the forecast shortfall in passenger revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This will ensure ...
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Rail Business UKTransport for the North looks to a changed future as ridership recovery slows
UK: The difficulty of persuading people back onto public transport and what this means for future service provision were the underlying themes of the most recent Transport for the North board meeting.
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Metro Report InternationalLondon Underground deploys UV light escalator sanitisers
UK: As part of bespoke cleaning measures during the coronavirus pandemic, Transport for London is installing more than 200 UV light devices to sanitise the handrails on 110 London Underground escalators. This follows a six-week trial launched in May which found that ...
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NewsCall for EU freight transport crisis contingency plan
EUROPE: The Council of the EU, which brings together national ministers from each member state, has called on the European Commission to draw up ‘swiftly’ a pandemic and major crisis contingency plan for the freight sector.
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NewsInnoTrans 2021 postponed to 2022 in the face of pandemic uncertainty
INNOTRANS: The rescheduled InnoTrans trade fair which was planned for April 2021 will now take place in the event’s regular two-yearly slot from September 20 to 23 2022, organiser Messe Berlin announced on October 22. The 13th InnoTrans had originally been scheduled for September 2020, but ...
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Rail Business UKWales & Borders rail operations to transfer to public control with new role for KeolisAmey
UK: Plans to bring Wales & Borders passenger services under public management have been announced by the Welsh Government, along with a new partnership which would see Transport for Wales continue to work with Keolis and Amey.
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Rail Business UKScientific study to improve understanding of Covid-19 transmission on trains and buses
UK: A study has been launched to develop a better understanding of the risks of Covid-19 transmission on public transport and to identify the best control measures.
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NewsSpace agency backs hospital train demonstrator
ITALY: A hospital train proof-of-concept demonstrator is to be developed and tested under a project funded by the European Space Agency. The Intensive Care Unit Train project brings together national train operator Trenitalia, the Puglia region and the Angel Group of technology companies, which includes space specialist ...
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NewsEU track access rebates approved
EUROPE: A regulation permitting European Union member states to waive or defer track access charges in order to support the rail sector through the coronavirus pandemic has been formally adopted by the EU Council and European Parliament.
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Metro Report InternationalMetro de Sevilla goes contactless
SPAIN: Metro de Sevilla has worked with Mastercard and Banco de Santander on a €0·5m project to introduce the ability to pay for travel using contactless bank cards or mobile phones. The fares charged are equivalent to those applying to the existing smart card, rather than the ...
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Rail Business UKDecontamination to support a safe return to rail
UK: Recognising ‘a clear anxiety and resistance of the public to step out of the comfort of their homes following five months in lockdown’, REACT Specialist Cleaning has put forward a series of recommendations for enhanced cleaning routines that it hopes will help rail operators to restore ...
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Metro Report InternationalTicket gates to lock when train social distancing capacity reached
SPAIN: Metrovalencia is working with Indra to deploy a system which will automatically lock its ticket gates to prevent more passengers entering its stations once the maximum number of people compatible with on-train social distancing requirements is reached. The gates will count people entering the system and ...
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NewsThello to withdraw Milano – Marseille inter-city trains
EUROPE: Thello’s open access EuroCity service between Milano, Nice and Marseille is to be withdrawn next year, according to local reports. Launched in 2014, the locomotive-hauled service consisted of up to three return workings a day. First and second class seating was available, and a small bar ...
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Metro Report InternationalMTR depot produces face masks
CHINA: Hong Kong’s MTR Corp has opened a face mask production line at its Siu Ho Wan depot which has a capacity of more than 300 000 masks per month. MTR Corp is planning to set up a second production line by the ...
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Rail Business UKERMAs underpin transformation from franchises to concessions
UK: With Emergency Measures Agreements or Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements now in place with its franchised passenger operators, the Department for Transport has begun work to create the future concession model which is expected to replace franchising once the Covid-19 pandemic is over.