ÖBB rail operations in Austria suspended due to strike action
All ÖBB traffic in Austria was suspended for the entirety of Monday 28 November following a failure to reach an agreement with railway union KV.
Renfe forced to run reduced timetables due to strike
Renfe’s Cercanías, Rodalies, and medium-distance services will be curtailed on Friday due to strike action by a minority union. The Spanish operator says the strikes are going ahead…
Spain’s free train pass pushes use of public transport to pre-corona levels
Renfe has issued 2 million free train passes since the introduction of the tickets in Spain towards the end of August. According to the operator, the initiative has…
Germany’s 9-euro ticket successor clears another hurdle
The German federal government and the federal states have reached an agreement on the outstanding financing issues for the so-called Deutschland ticket, the successor of the widely popular…
HS2: another week, another tunnel
HS2 Limited, the company building the high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, has launched the next phase of tunnelling on the enormous infrastructure project. The first of six…
New German timetable: faster connections, additional capacity and new international destinations
Deutsche Bahn has detailed its new timetable, which will come into effect in December. The highlights include two trains between Cologne and Munich every hour, a faster connection…
More than 1,5 million people in Spain now make use of free train tickets
Renfe says more than 1,5 million free train passes have been issued since the tickets for free travel became available on August 24. Subscriptions for the Cercanías and…
Oman Rail and Etihad Rail agree on 3-billion-dollar cross-border railway
Oman Rail and Etihad Rail have agreed to jointly build a new 303-kilometre cross-border railway line that will link the Omani port of Sohar to the UAE National…
How to improve passenger information?
Recent trips across Europe demonstrate a significant lack of up-to-date information in the event of traffic disruptions. Part of the reason is that railroads are somewhat sluggish companies…
ÖBB to introduce energy-saving sleeping mode for parked trains
ÖBB will be equipping its Cityjet trains from the Siemens Desiro ML series with new software so that they can be put in so-called ‘sleep mode plus’. The…
Belgian railways next to offer steep discounts
Starting on Friday, Belgian operator NMBS/SNCB will offer a monthly train pass at half price for domestic train travel. The move is intended to entice people to use…
French government calls for ‘energy sobriety’ from SNCF not fewer trains
While the French government has called on SNCF to make energy savings in response to the current crisis, it has not requested that the state railway utility prepare…
German government announces 9-euro ticket successor campaign
The German federal government will launch a new flat-fee public transport ticket as part of a major new relief package aimed at cushioning the effects of rising inflation…
UK rail passenger numbers hit post-pandemic high
Rail passenger numbers in the UK were at 95 percent of pre-corona levels earlier this month, the Railway Industry Association (RIA) has said. Passenger levels were consistently above…
Renfe users obtain more than 90,000 free rail passes on first day
Some 92.000 Renfe users got their hands on one of the free rail passes for the September-December period on the first day of availability last week, the operator…