Tag: trains

British Rail in Need of Boosted Competition and Reform, Says Report

UK rail’s recovery from the pandemic will be stalled if reforms are not carried out and effective competition among train companies is not introduced, a rail transportation body has suggested. Britain’s rail routes need to be “revitalised” and more competition is the way to do it, said Rail Partners in its new report (pdf). This…


Northern Explorer a Captivating Rail Ride Through Heart of New Zealand (No Wi-fi Needed)

By Mary Ann Anderson From Tribune News Service On a bright, clear fall morning, the train from Wellington to Auckland clatters away from the rail station precisely as scheduled at 7:55. The temperature hovers coolly in the mid-50s, not at all cold, and quite typical for a Southern Hemisphere fall morning. On the 423-mile journey…


Over 100 Bodies Remain Unclaimed After Indian Rail Disaster

BALASORE, India—Indian authorities made fervent appeals to families on Tuesday to help identify over 100 unclaimed bodies kept in hospitals and mortuaries after 275 people were killed in the country’s deadliest rail crash in over two decades. The disaster struck on Friday, when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped the tracks and…


Error in Signaling System Led to Train Crash That Killed 275 People in India, Official Says

BALASORE, India—The derailment in eastern India that killed 275 people and injured hundreds was caused by an error in the electronic signaling system that led a train to wrongly change tracks and crash into a freight train, officials said Sunday. Authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two passenger trains that derailed Friday…


Indian Railways Official Says Error in Signaling System Led to Crash That Killed 275 People

BALASORE, India—The derailment in eastern India that killed 275 people and injured hundreds was caused by an error in the electronic signaling system that led a train to wrongly change tracks and crash into a freight train, officials said Sunday. Authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two passenger trains that derailed Friday…


A Ride on Roaring Camp’s Redwood Train in Felton, California

As the train ascended the tight curves of Bear Mountain in Santa Cruz, California, it began to sing. Harmonic tones rang out among redwood trees as the projecting edge (flange) of the train’s wheels pressed up against the inside of the rails. “This railroad has tighter curves than almost any other railroad in the country,”…


Miscommunication Caused Washington State Train to Derail

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, a seven-car BNSF Railway train derailed in Puget Sound, Washington state, last week, spilling 3,100 gallons of diesel fuel. Two cars were flipped on the ground when the train tried to pass a swinging bridge over the Swinomish Channel on Thursday (March 16) after leaving an oil refinery in…


Greeks Protest Over Deadly Train Crash, Station Master Jailed Pending Trial

ATHENS—A Greek railway employee was jailed on Sunday pending trial over a deadly train crash that killed at least 57 people, as Greeks seethed with anger over the worst rail disaster in living memory. Protests continued to reverberate days after a head-on collision of a passenger train and a freight carrier on the Athens-Thessaloniki route…


Disbelief Turns to Anger as Greeks Seek Train Crash Missing

LARISSA, Greece—Disbelief turned to despair and anger in Greece on Wednesday after dozens of people were killed in the country’s worst rail disaster in living memory. Tuesday’s crash 220 miles north of Athens killed at least 36 people when a high-speed passenger train heading to the northern city of Thessaloniki careered into a freight train…


What It’s Really Like to Take a European Night Train

By Scott Hartbeck From TravelPulse Over the past few years, much has been made about the renaissance of the European night train. A while back, I gave sleeper trains’ newfound head of steam a shout-out in a broader story on the healthy status of European rail back in early 2020—right before the travel world was…