French authorities have reopened a single track railway between Nantes and Châteaubriant after 34 years.

SNCF president Guillaume Pépy and the French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault attended the inauguration of the 64-kilometre tram-train system in the Pays de la Loire region on February 28.

SNCF placed a framework order in 2007 with Alstom worth €650 million for 200 Citadis Dualis tram-train units, with 31 trainsets earmarked for the Pays de la Loire and Rhône-Alpes regions.

The Pays de la Loire region has since exercised an option on the order, taking the total number of new vehicles to 24.

The first 10 vehicles went into service on February 28. However, Citadis Dualis trams are already in use on the Nantes-Clisson line which is operated by Semitan.

France’s Public Establishment of Railway Safety (EPSF) suspended the Dualis tram-trains safety certification last year following the derailment of a vehicle delivered under the original framework order in West Lyonnais. Alstom regained its certification at the start of 2014.

Passengers will be able to travel free of charge for the first three days of operation.

London Underground (LU) is looking for expressions of interest from rolling stock manufacturers that believe they can deliver the next generation of deep-level Tube trains.

The operator has said it plans to place a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) today (February 28) before a formal Invitation to Tender is issued in early 2015.

LU is looking to procure 250 new trains for the Bakerloo, Central, Piccadilly and Waterloo & City lines.

The new rolling stock will need to be capable of full automation, LU has said.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “This vital modernisation of our trains and signalling will ensure an even more comfortable, frequent and reliable service for hardworking commuters and visitors to the capital.

“Much like our Victorian forebears, we will make what was once thought impossible possible when 250 brand-new, air-cooled, walk-through trains are introduced to the network.

“This is a hugely important step in the continued evolution of our world-famous Tube and one that will see an iconic new fleet of trains to keep London and its economy moving.”

In October 2013, Siemens presented its own concept London Underground Inspiro train which it presented to the public in an exhibition at The Crystal.

The number of entries and exits at Britain’s railway stations rose by more than 82 million between 2012-13 – a 3.3 per cent increase on the previous year.

Figures released by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) showed that the top 10 busiest stations remained unchanged, with London stations still dominating the standings.

London Waterloo was once again the UK’s busiest station, recording an increase of 1.8 million on 2011-12 to 96 million passenger entries and exits.

The statistics also showed that London Euston experienced the most significant increase in usage of the top 10, with 1.8 million more entries and exits – a rise attributed to an increasing popularity for London Overground services.

Article edited 02/3/14

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced plans to establish a new ‘Rail Executive’ body to oversee industry matters within the Department for Transport (DfT).

Although the Rail Executive has been set up in reaction to the franchising crisis which followed the collapse of the West Coast competition in 2012, McLoughlin has said the body’s responsibilities will extend to managing “the interdependencies between rolling stock, track, stations, freight and passenger services; and between existing services and HS2″.

Franchising will now be managed by a seperate team within the Rail Executive called the Office of Rail Passenger Services, which will be led by an externally recruited managing director and supported by non-executive board members.

By setting up the Rail Executive, McLoughlin also believes the department is going some way to creating an arms-length body to manage the franchising process, as recommended in both the Brown and Laidlaw reports.

In a written statement to Parliament, McLoughlin said: “Creation of the rail executive will support the drive to strengthen our focus on passengers; build an enhanced culture of commercial expertise and innovation; and ensure greater coordination of improvements to track and trains.

“A new approach to recruitment, reward and career development for commercial rail skills will allow the rail executive to increase capability at all levels and bolster commercial experience in the management team.

“This will reduce the department’s dependency upon consultants and increase its ability to negotiate the best deal for passengers and the taxpayer.”

Chicago’s subway operator (CTA) is to begin the next phase of $4 billion improvement programme.

CTA is to start work on a $492 million reconstruction of the Blue Line O’Hare branch, the first phase of which will include the replacement of wooden rail ties on the Milwaukee elevated track between Damen and Logan Square – an original section of line that opened in 1895.

The modernisation of the 12.5-mile Blue Line branch follows an earlier $425 million reconstruction of Chicago’s Red Line South last year.

CTA president Forrest Claypool said: “Your New Blue represents a huge investment in CTA riders and visitors traveling to Chicago via O’Hare and the many vibrant communities along the North and Northwest Sides.”

The four-year ‘Your New Blue’ programme will see 13 stations upgraded, track an signals work, the installation of a new water-management system and improvements to the traction power system.

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More than 82,000 tickets have been sold on high-speed TGVs between Barcelona and Paris since the launch of the service in December.

French Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier and Spain’s Minister of Public Works, Ana Pastor, were in Barcelona to see off the first train on December 15 alongside Guillaume Pepy, chairman of SNCF, and Julio Gomez-Pomar Rodrigruez, president of Renfe.

The new train was launched with five services a day in each direction: two daily services from Paris to Barcelona, and three more trains from Toulouse to Barcelona, Lyon to Barcelona and Marseille to Madrid.

SNCF and Renfe have now announced the introduction of a new daily service between the two cities from March 31.

An additional train will leave Barcelona at 13.20, arriving in Paris at 19.53, and from Paris at 16.07, arriving in Barcelona at 22.46.

A company in South Africa has purchased a fleet of 30-year-old rail cars from the New Zealand capital of Wellington.

The city has begun shipping the first of 34 electrical-multiple units (EMUs) built by Hungarian manufacturer Ganz Mavag to Africa where they will be converted into locomotive-hauled carriages for airport link services in Dar es Salaam and Tanzania, as well as train between Harare, Zimbabwe and the coast.

The ageing Ganz Mavag fleet is being phased out with the introduction of new Matangi trains.

All 48 two-car units ordered by Greater Wellington Regional Council from Hyundai Rotem are now operating on the electrified network.

Although the Matangi fleet will take over fully from the Ganz Mavags by mid-2015, the city has said it will keep one of the trains for “heritage purposes”.

A design fault has been identified as the cause of cracks found in the frame of one of Ukrainian Railways HRCS2 trains.

On February 12, Ukrainian Railways withdrew 10 trains built by South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Rotem after discovering the fault.

Initial tests have suggested that the cracks were caused by a design defect. Further trials are being conducted this week and if the results support the earlier findings, Hyundai Rotem has agreed to repair the trains under the existing warranty, but it could be up to six months before the vehicles return to service.

The nine-car HRCS2 train sets were ordered by Ukrainian Railways prior to Euro 2012 to operate between Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lviv.