UK: Cordel has installed Lidar sensors on two Network Rail maintenance units to make accurate measurements of platforms which will help to maximise the opportunities for level boarding of Southeastern’s next generation of London suburban trains.

UK: Austrian railway construction and maintenance contractor Swietelsky has acquired locomotive hire, storage and maintenance company Harry Needle Railroad Co.

Set up by UIC and three national railways, the recently formed Open Rail Association is seeking to grow its membership to drive adoption of open source software in the rail market, as Swiss Federal Railways’ CIO Jochen Decker and Nicole Göbel, Chief Executive of Deutsche Bahn’s information technology arm ...

SAUDI ARABIA: The Royal Commission for AlUla and Saudi Railway Polytechnic have announced an agreement to boost the capabilities of young Saudis looking to launch a career in AlUla and in the country’s rail sector.

UK: Eriks UK & Ireland has completed a £1·2m refurbishment of its engineering workshop at Greenford in west London as a dedicated facility for servicing London Underground traction motors.

EUROPE: In what the two incumbents term ‘a co-operation between historic operators’, SNCF and SNCB have launched a low-cost loco-hauled Ouigo service between Paris and Brussels.

News from the world rail freight market.

UK: The National Centre for Accessible Transport has launched a database to consolidate accessible transport research, strategy and policy-related documents, along with a transport barriers database highlighting the challenges that disabled people face.

Threatened with closure in the mid-1980s, Catalunya’s Lleida – La Pobla de Segur branch has been revitalised by the regional government over the past two decades. Targeted investment is paying off with steadily increasing ridership, reports Mike Bent.