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UIC describes rail-related climate work under COP action plans on freight modal shift, urban transport, and infrastructure resilience. It cites a new study on National Adaptation Plans showing rail is often mentioned but rarely backed by costs or funding, and says COP31 discussions will address green freight corridors and carbon markets.

Indian Railways reported higher coal and overall freight loading in October, CONCOR ordered 12 rakes of container wagons from Golden Rock Workshop, DP World expanded double-stack services from JNPA, and the Rowghat iron ore line was commissioned. A new East-West dedicated freight corridor is under study.

UIC released a report on how liberalisation affects high-speed rail affordability, using Spain as the main case study and comparing Italy, France and Germany. It finds lower average fares, wider service choice and higher ridership in Spain, while stressing that results depend on local market and regulatory conditions.

CFL multimodal launched an intermodal rail service between Bettembourg-Dudelange and Wrocław on 20 October 2026, operating four round trips per week. It also increased its Bettembourg–Lübeck service from three to four weekly round trips after recent operational disruption.

Network Rail completed nine days of work to renew and strengthen Saxmundham junction on East Suffolk Line, converting it from manual to powered operation and upgrading signalling and infrastructure. The improvements support increased freight traffic to the Sizewell C construction site and resumed Greater Anglia services between Halesworth and Ipswich.

India’s Railway Board granted conditional clearance for a 16-car Vande Bharat Chair Car trainset built by RCF Kapurthala with Alstom propulsion, allowing operation up to 160 km/h subject to technical conditions. The Board raised issues on displays, protection, cabling, equipment mounting and traction motor rating.

ÖBB and SBB extended their passenger rail cooperation to 2036, covering more than 30 daily direct services and six night train routes from Zürich. Passenger numbers on the joint services have grown strongly over the past decade, alongside ÖBB’s rollout of new Siemens-built Nightjet trains.

Maersk is launching a twice-weekly intermodal rail service between Haparanda on the Swedish-Finnish border and APM Terminals Gothenburg, with plans to increase frequency to six round trips per week. The electric rail link will move containerised freight from northern Sweden and Finland to Gothenburg for onward ocean connections, including Asia.

Kenya Railways has begun vehicle transport on the Standard Gauge Railway between Mombasa and Nairobi, moving 21 cars on its first service. The operation uses adapted vehicle wagons alongside container trains and is being developed with Autobarn East Africa for about 700 vehicles a month.

Spain approved €30 million in aid and advance compensation for victims of the Urda high-speed rail crash near Toledo. The decree sets €72,121.46 per fatality, injury compensation by insurance scale, and temporary price caps on travel alternatives and accommodation linked to affected trips.

The Transport Minister said the East Coast Rail Link is projected to generate RM418 million in operating revenue from passenger and cargo services by 2029.

Network Rail completed drainage renewal and related maintenance on the East Coast Main Line in North Yorkshire after two weekend possessions. The programme included 300 metres of drainage at Chapman’s Bridge near Shipton, work on track, power lines and points, vegetation management, and a new bridge at Church Fenton for overhead line preparation.

Amorim Cork Solutions supplied under ballast mats for a railway infrastructure project in Pampilhosa do Botão, Portugal, to help control vibration in a track transition zone beside a bridge. The mats were selected for their elastic support and ability to reduce vibration transmission under repeated train loading.

Tracsis says predictive rail asset maintenance is moving from concept to operational use by combining remote condition monitoring data with machine learning. The company is testing a field-deployable predictive platform with selected client partners on busy rail networks to refine model accuracy and reliability.

The article argues that rail emergency exit systems should still function without connectivity or power, citing EU interoperability rules and the IEC RAMS framework. It says physically independent mechanisms can complement digitally enabled systems in trains.

UIC Rail Expert Group meeting 2026 will be held on 18–19 November 2026 in Hamburg, Germany, hosted by DB InfraGo.

Hitachi Rail opened a new C$30 million, 125,000-square-foot headquarters and center of excellence for signalling and systems in Toronto, Canada. The facility is intended to support the company’s signalling and systems work in the Canadian market.

The article says ETCS timeline changes should be managed through connected asset data, scenario planning and workbank updates so infrastructure, fleet and renewal plans stay aligned. It argues that planning tools can help identify affected assets, compare sequencing options and track assumptions as delivery milestones move.

Freightliner has introduced a new logo after CMA CGM completed its acquisition of the UK intermodal business on 29 January 2026. The deal covered rail and road operations, inland terminals and the Freightliner brand, while heavy haul, Rotterdam Rail Feeding, and operations in Poland and Germany were excluded.

Hitachi Rail Spain and Hitachi Rail Turkey signed a contract to supply, install and commission signalling systems on Turkey’s Ankara-Istanbul line at T26 and Bilecik depot. The scope includes interlockings, the Traffic Control Centre, telecommunications expansion, and ETCS Level 1 and 2.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority approved Siemens’ contract to supply three AP220 high-speed trainsets, spare parts and 10 years of maintenance. The deal is worth USD 772.1 million, with options for up to 19 more trainsets. Initial manufacture and testing will be in Germany, with California testing planned from 2030.

MCMC is testing internet coverage along the 378km Phase 1 East Coast Rail Link route from Gombak to Kota Baru, including 16 stations and tunnels, ahead of the Dec 12 launch. Maxis, appointed by MRL as the 4G infrastructure provider, has presented its implementation plan.

Hitachi Rail signed a contract to supply railway signalling systems for the T26 tunnel and Bilecik depot on Turkey’s Ankara–Istanbul line.

Hitachi Rail marked the opening of the first operational section of Chennai Metro Phase II, a 15 km, 11-station elevated corridor powered by its CBTC signalling for GoA4 driverless operation. The wider Phase II signalling contract, awarded in 2023, covers 119 km of metro lines.

UIC will hold its 9th Zero Waste Workshop in Paris and online on 19 January 2027 on critical raw materials and rail resilience. The event will discuss rail supply-chain dependencies, circular economy approaches, and draft EU Agency for Railways findings on circular economy in rail.