EUROPE: Freight train operators are using sensors from technology company A1 Digital and its hardware partner Cargomon to accurately determine wagon weights in real time, reducing the risk of uneven loading and lowering maintenance costs without needing to send wagons to weighing stations.

AUSTRALIA: A mock-up built by Allweld Manufacturing is being used to gather feedback from future users including train drivers, people with reduced mobility and cyclists to ensure that a future fleet of electric multiple-units will be accessible for all.

INDIA: Following a series of serious train collisions in recent months, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has instructed Indian Railway officials to accelerate the implementation of the Kavach automatic train protection system.

News from the world rail freight market.

GERMANY: Small volumes of freight can be handled on urban rail networks using freight trams or similar vehicles, a research project conducted in Karlsruhe has concluded.

KAZAKHSTAN: Locomotive maintenance company Kamkor Locomotiv and the Akmola region have signed an agreement to build a 47bn tenge locomotive assembly plant in Atbasar.

TAJIKISTAN: South Korea’s International Co-operation Agency is planning to assist Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport with a US$4m feasibility study for a railway to the border with Afghanistan.

SWITZERLAND: Swiss Federal Railways has awarded Stadler a SFr140m contract to supply 11 narrow-bodied electric multiple-units for use on Seetalbahn services from Luzern to Emmenbrücke and Lenzburg.

UK: The EKFB joint venture of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall has made significant progress in the construction of two major viaducts on the section of High Speed 2 it is building in Buckinghamshire.

GERMANY: Funding has been confirmed for the 15 kV 16·7 Hz electrification of the 47 km Euregiobahn network of local passenger routes in the Aachen area.

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

UK: TransPennine Express is trialling two tinted window films which it hopes will reduce solar heating and thus lower the energy used by train air-conditioning systems.

USA: The Transbay Joint Powers Authority has selected the AECOM-led Portal Connectors team to provide programme management and construction management services for the long-planned extension of Caltrain commuter rail services into central San Francisco.

INDIA: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved eight new line projects which are intended to improve connectivity, minimise logistics costs, reduce oil imports and lower CO2 emissions.

PHILIPPINES: The Department of Transportation is to call tenders at the end of this year for a feasibility study into a proposed 250 km freight railway between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas.

FINLAND: ‘Our strategy focuses on profitability, growth and creating a values-based VR culture’, VR Group CEO Elisa Markula said when she the presented the national operator’s H1 2024 results on August 16 and set out plans to divest some assets to facilitate competition.

UK: LNER’s pilot scheme withdrawing flexible Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak fares is to be expanded to cover journeys between London and more than 20 stations around and between Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh from September 30.

UK: A pilot scheme which removed peak fares on ScotRail services in favour of offering cheaper off-peak fares all day is to end, after analysis found only ‘a limited degree of success’ in achieving modal shift from cars

GERMANY: The federal government has agreed to changes in the national budget for 2025 that will replace a provision for grants worth €4∙5bn by equity increases in Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure business, DB InfraGO.

AUSTRIA: Austria Federal Railways has begun installing bilingual signs at stations in communities that are legally defined as bilingual.