In Switzerland, as a test, 48 solar panels have been laid between the tracks on an active railway line between Neuchâtel and Buttes. News about it here, and cue all the feel-good-but-don’t-think-twice influencers crowing about it. But let’s think twice about this. First, should you install solar panels in a […]
Latest Posts
No Villa Opicina – Divača – Pivka – Rijeka trains in 2025, no re-launch date known
Launched with some fanfare in the summer of 2024 (see The Times and Kurier that covered it for example), the “Trieste” – Rijeka international train service is no more. The train will not run in 2025, and there is no known date for the resumption of the route. This was […]
Trenitalia to run London-Paris in 2029 – the most serious rival to Eurostar yet
As I raced around Europe during my #CrossChannelRail project for the past three weeks, it looked like there were three or possibly four private companies in the frame to rival Eurostar on high speed routes through the Channel Tunnel – Virgin Trains, Gemini, Evolyn and possibly Heuro. But today’s news […]
New Channel Tunnel entrant? You need a plan for what happens if you fail, so you can actually succeed
No company wants to enter a market thinking they are going to fail. But what happens were they to fail might have a bearing on whether they succeed in the first place. It was with this in mind that I read this morning that Virgin Trains is looking for money partners. […]
The really simple guide to what we need to fix in EU wide rail ticketing, and how
I have just been in a focus group for an academic project about cross border railways in Europe, and ticketing was one of the aspects of it. Some of the others in the discussion were ticketing people from state owned railways, some from rivals to state incumbents, and some from […]
The accessibility problems with Alstom’s new TGV-M train – with implications for future Channel Tunnel operators
There is no way to sweeten this: my original conclusion that Alstom’s Avelia Horizon (known as TGV-M with SNCF) is not legal at higher station platforms outside France was incorrect. Because transparency and correcting my errors matters to me, you can read the original blog entry in full here – […]
