Whereas innovation in railways was once about the search for higher speeds or energy efficiency, Prof Peter Veit believes that the primary focus is now shifting to a whole‑system understanding. It will also be necessary to optimise infrastructure maintenance methods to accommodate rising demand, he explains to Reinhard Christeller.

UK: The Institution of Civil Engineers has published a report setting out lessons it says need to be learned from the decision to cancel the northern phases of the High Speed 2 project.

INNOTRANS: The 14th InnoTrans trade fair which opens on September 24 is the largest trade show ever to be held in Berlin, according to Dirk Hoffmann, COO of organiser Messe Berlin.

INNOTRANS: Around 230 senior European decision makers and rail sector representatives travelled from Brussels to Berlin on a special train on September 23, organised by the Europe’s Rail joint undertaking to demonstrate the benefits of enhancing cross-border rail connectivity.

CHILE: Representatives of EFE Trenes de Chile have visited the Caxias do Sul factory of Marcopolo Rail in Brazil to see the production of diesel multiple-units the operator has ordered.

UK: Rail Business UK understands that the government has no plans to introduce a subscription-based ticket offering unlimited rail travel, as has been proposed in a report produced for Greenpeace by the Greengauge 21 think tank.

GERMANY: Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, city transport operator VGF and retailer Amazon are testing the use of trams to deliver parcels from the outskirts to the city centre. This aims to reduce road traffic, noise and carbon emissions in the urban area.

News from the world rail freight market.

INNOTRANS: The global rail market is worth approximately €180bn per annum. But surely the only place to see the industry come together in one place is at InnoTrans, the world’s largest transport technology trade fair.

UK: Transport for London is the latest customer to use D/Gauge’s Rift software for in-house structure gauging and track design activities.

Live coverage of InnoTrans 2024 from Railway Gazette Group.

INNOTRANS: ‘Accelerating Rail Intelligence, Thriving with Digital’ will be the theme of Chinese telecoms group Huawei’s presence at this year’s show in Berlin.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Turnout manufacturer DT Výhybkárna Strojírna has unveiled a swing-nose crossing and switch set for high speed lines that allows through running speeds of up to 350 km/h and 230 km/h when diverging.

EUROPE: Apostolos Tzitzikostas of Greece has been named European Commissioner designate for Sustainable Transport & Tourism.

DENMARK: National passenger operator DSB has selected the S3 Passenger platform from Siemens Mobility subsidiary Sqills to replace its legacy inventory management system covering all its main line services.

CHINA: Services over the Hangzhou – Yiwu – Wenzhou high speed line began on September 6.

This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.

UK: The rail industry has teamed up with the Campaign for Better Transport to highlight how swapping one return car journey for a train can make a big difference when it comes to helping tackle climate change.

FRANCE: The delivery of parcels to the city centre by tram and cargo bike being tested in Strasbourg.

ITALY: The first of six Flirt electric multiple-units ordered as part of the electrification of the Aosta line has been unveiled at Stadler’s factory at Siedlce in Poland.