13 Must-Read Rail News Stories – Industry Insider for Week 10
All the important rail news of the week, summed up for you in one place: our Railway-News Industry Insider for 4–8 March 2019:
Infrastructure
United States: Alstom Wins Boston Subway Signalling Contract
Alstom and Barletta Engineering, Heavy Division, have signed a contract outlining their collaborating to upgrade and modernise signalling equipment on Boston’s subway. The lines in question are the city’s Orange and Red lines. The works are intended to improve service, reliability and capacity.
Read: United States: Alstom Wins Boston Subway Signalling Contract
British Steel Secures New Catalonia Rail Contract
The operator of the rail network in Catalonia, Spain – Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) – has signed an agreement with British Steel for the supply of R260 rail. British Steel says it can deliver its product with a short lead time, which is of great benefit to its customers.
Read: British Steel Secures New Catalonia Rail Contract
Rolling Stock
12th CZ Loko EffiShunter 300 Delivered to Czech Railways
CZ Loko has fulfilled its contract with Czech Railways, delivering the twelfth and final EffiShunter 300 in the order. The EffiShunter 300 is a two-axle locomotive with a Caterpillar C13 diesel engine. It has a top speed of 60km/h. These twelve shunting locomotives will work throughout the Czech Republic, including Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Hradec, Králové, Pilsen and Ústi nad Labem.
Read: 12th CZ Loko EffiShunter 300 Delivered to Czech Railways
Russia: Transmashholding Tests New Sleeper Cars
Tver Carriage Works, a subsidiary of Transmashholding, is performing tests on new sleeper cars. These single-storey sleeper cars are the first to operate in pairs in the country. The company’s full set of new model trains consists of first class, sleeper, seating and staff cars.
Read: Russia: Transmashholding Tests New Sleeper Cars
Penultimate Transperth B-series Train Travels from Queensland to Perth
In a joint venture, Downer and Bombardier have spent the past 14 years working together on delivering the Transperth B-series trains for Perth, Western Australia. Manufactured in Queensland, the penultimate of these trains is now travelling across the country, before undergoing testing and entering service.
Read: Penultimate Transperth B-series Train Travels from Queensland to Perth
Policy
Switzerland to Reduce Price of Using Rail Network by 90 Million
As of 2021 it will cost train operators 90 million Franks (80 million euros) less per year to run services on the Swiss rail network. This applies both to passenger and freight services. By law, trains must cover the costs they cause. And a recent investigation has shown that this cost has in fact decreased. This is due to, for example, efficiency increases and more automation.
Read: Switzerland to Reduce Price of Using Rail Network by 90 Million
Events
Did you know… we’ve just published our SIFER Special Magazine
We’ve just published our first magazine of 2019, to run in conjunction with SIFER, which is held in Lille, France on 26–28 March. You can read the full magazine here, or you can get a quick overview of everything inside to whet your appetite for further reading. Thought-provoking comment pieces include authors from UNIFE, CER and the Sociéte du Grand Paris.
Read: Did you know… we’ve just published our SIFER Special Magazine
Business
Australian and UK Railway Associations Deepen Collaboration
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) and its UK counterpart, the Railway Industry Association (RIA) have signed a memorandum of understanding. The purpose of this agreement is to deepen bilateral collaboration in both innovation and trade. The two parties have committed to sharing information and approaches to skills training and recruitment, among other things.
Read: Australian and UK Railway Associations Deepen Collaboration
International Women’s Day 2019
International Women’s Day 2019: #BalanceforBetter
We still live in a society where from basically birth we get guided and shuffled into certain behaviours and values depending on our sex. Male babies are ‘strong’, girl babies are ‘beautiful’. Boys are better at science, girls are better at the arts. Men become engineers. Women all want to be mothers. The effects of this can be seen starkly in the rail industry, where 87% of people employed by public sector bodies in the UK are men. And only 0.6% of the women in the rail industry are at director or executive level.
Read: International Women’s Day 2019: #BetterforBalance
UITP and ITF Sign Important Agreement for Women in Public Transport
The International Transport Workers’ Federation has signed an agreement with UITP to encourage the employment of women in the public transport sector. The agreement identifies five main barriers women face in the urban public transport sector, such as shift work and a lack of facilities. It then makes recommendations that focus on nine areas, such as wage equality and recruitment.
Read: UITP and IFT Sign Important Agreement for Women in Public Transport
Siemens UK: Gender Pay Gap at Almost 20 Percent
Siemens UK has stated that its median gender pay gap in 2018 was 19.79%. Furthermore, the median bonus pay gap is 15.45%. Of the company’s 15,000 UK employees, 79% are male and 21% are female. However, only 13.21% of the upper-paid positions in the company are filled by women.
Read: Siemens UK: Gender Pay Gap at Almost 20 Percent
International Women’s Day around the World: France – The Grand Paris Express
The Société wanted to highlight the women working on the biggest infrastructure project in Europe to celebrate International Women’s Day 2019. They went out in search of the women and interviewed them in a short film (in French). One of them, Tenin, said: “Go for it. there are no men’s trades or women’s trades.”
Read: International Women’s Day around the World: France – The Grand Paris Express
International Women’s Day around the World: United Kingdom – Colas Rail
Equality in our society is not just a matter for the minority affected. It’s something everyone must work to bring about. Colas Rail asked four of its employees what they had to say about the balance between men and women in the workplace.
Read: International Women’s Day around the World: United Kingdom – Colas Rail