Railway Gazette: ETCS Level 2 on test in Madrid

SPAIN: The start of trials of ETCS Level 2 on the cross-city tunnel between Atocha, Sol and Chamartín in Madrid was marked on March 26 when Development Minister Ana Pastor travelled by train from Tres Cantos to Sol. According to the ministry, this is the first application of ETCS Level 2 on a suburban network in Europe.

The same line was commissioned with ETCS L1 just a month ago, which was a first too (see Rail News Blogging #9).

Railway Gazette: SJ to replace DSB in Göteborg

SWEDEN: An agreement has been reached for Swedish national passenger operator SJ to succeed DSB Väst as operator of Göteborg local and regional services from May 1, DSB announced on March 30.

DSB's withdrawal, and the whole history of DSB's Swedish operations as a case study of the ills of rail privatisation by the franchising model, was covered in Rail News Blogging #11.

Railway Gazette: Italo to launch on April 28

ITALY: Open access high speed trains will begun running between Napoli and Milano on April 28, operator NTV confirmed on March 30. The company says its investment of €1bn will offer passengers `the first choice of who they travel with' over the country's high speed network.

...Fares and timetables will be announced on April 12, when tickets for the first services will go on sale...

NTV's delays, and the potential negative overall effect open-access competition on inter-city passenger rail in Italy, was also covered in Rail News Blogging #11.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Monorails are fundamentally an attempt to make things better for cars (avoid congestion) in return for worse for peds (have to climb stairs, cramped vehicles, can't easily see shop fronts).  People aren't stupid and choose the ped friendly option every time (the light rail is very popular).  And monorails have terrible points compared with twin rail system which means that you're generally limited to loops or shuttles.

It's also interesting how quickly the vehicles aged - there are 1920s era trams operating in Melbourne and San Francisco, for example.  The Seattle monorail has aged better, probably because of its connection to the futurist space needle.

To go further than that, the trains have to reverse out of the station and head out on a different line. but sensibly you'd think that electrification would need to expand all the way to Fishguard, to bring the Irish ferries as the terminus

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Renationalising the railways could save the taxpayer £1.2 billion a year, according to a union-commissioned study.

The report - for Aslef, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association and Unite - said savings could be achieved through cheaper borrowing costs, removing shareholders' dividends and reducing fragmentation.

The study, by the Transport for Quality of Life think tank, said £300 million alone could be saved by taking train operating companies into public ownership.

A survey of 2,000 people as part of the research found that 71% believed privatised train companies were more concerned with making profits than providing affordable fares and a decent service for passengers. Only 19% believed that the railways should remain in private hands.

Automatic train operation already in 1969 who would've thought?

_{Schengen is toast!}