Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Tuesday, 20th February 2024.
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Tuesday 20th February 2024
The HS2 railway linking London to Birmingham could boost the West Midlands economy by £10bn during the next 10 years, according to research.
An article on the BBC website says more than 40,000 new homes could be built and 31,000 jobs created, the report by consultancy Arcadis said.
The study found that since 2017, the region had attracted the most inward investment outside London and the South East.
Railways experts at the University of Birmingham are joining forces with East Japan Railway Company (Japan Railway East) to create innovative rail technology and new ways of staffing Japan’s railways.
University of Birmingham Provost Professor Stephen Jarvis and Japan Railway East Senior Executive Officer, Shunzo Miyake signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a special ceremony at the University’s UK campus.
Japan Railway East experts will join their counterparts in the Rail Innovation Cluster at the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) – working with start-up companies in the UK and Europe and conducting demonstration experiments in various technical areas.
The management of training and development on UK tramways is set to be transformed with the launch of an ambitious sector-wide initiative.
Led by the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board (LRSSB), the project aims to revolutionise learning across the sector and includes the development of an online resource that networks can use to plan and maintain their own training programmes.
The centralised learning platform will monitor employee competencies, keep track of required certifications, and help identify the most appropriate training courses. It will also provide a hub for best practice, delivering consistency across the sector while driving even higher standards in all aspects of light rail training.
A battery-powered train is thought to have broken a UK record during a test journey.
An article on the BBC website says Great Western Railway (GWR) has been trialling its FastCharge battery, which it hopes will eventually eliminate the need to use diesel.
On 14 February, a test train travelled 86 miles on battery power alone without charging, through Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
A few days later, it travelled 70 miles on 45 per cent of its battery capacity.
Photo credit: Great Western Railway
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