3/2014

Early in September 2011 the first Czech open access passenger service started, provided by RegioJet between Praha, Ostrava and Bohumín. This long distance service was not subsidised, RegioJet operating it on a commercial basis, at its own financial risk. Then, in December 2012 ČD found itself with another competitor offering services between Praha and the Ostrava district, this being LEO Express. The route has subsequently become a battleground between all three operators, as they vie with one other to win passengers.

Since December 2011 WESTbahn has been operating services on the 317 km Westbahn between Wien and Salzburg, competing for passenger traffic with ÖBB, and now using the new high speed section of the Westbahn as far west as St. Pölten.

On 30 May 2014 Uralskie lokomotivy (UL) presented ES2G-001, the first Lastochka EMU to be built at Verkhnaya Pyshma, the event coinciding with the celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the start of construction of rail vehicles at the works.

Ukrzaliznitsya’s long-awaited programme of updating its fleet of passenger rolling stock is (once again) beginning to take shape. To finance this programme the Ukrainian government has decided to resort to international loans, and to provide guarantees for these. The investors are the major European and US commercial banks.

The Rail Cargo Group has reintroduced its patented ISU system which enables the vertical loading of non-craneable trailers onto ordinary pocket wagons. On 26 November 2013 a twice-weekly service linking Wels and Trieste and using this system started up.

Following over a decade of planning, project development and construction, the Scottish capital’s second-generation tramway was inaugurated on 31 May 2014, nearly 58 years after the closure of the Edinburgh Corporation Tramways network, which existed from 1871 until 16 November 1956.