Today’s Railways Europe 305 – July 2021

The July 2021 issue of Today’s Railways Europe contains the very latest news and features from all over mainland Europe. Our comprehensive news sections bring all the best from Europe’s main line railways, tramways and heritage lines, plus all our regular monthly columns.

For this month’s feature articles we have visited Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, France and Czech Republic taking in a variety of rolling stock fleets and operations. Our news round-up visits almost every corner of the continent!

Feature articles this month include:

• Moving Mountains: Skoda’s six-axle DC Freight Locomotives: In the drive to modernise its network following World War II, Czechoslovakia looked to the latest traction technology from Switzerland for a new generation of powerful electric freight locomotives. Andrew Thompson tells the story of the Sestikolak, many of which remain in service in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.
• The Fall and Rise of Portugal’s Railways Part 2: The 2030 National Railway Plan: In the second instalment of a two-part article on the recent past, present and future of Portugal’s railways, Manuel Tao and Carlos Fonseca examine the country’s first national railway strategy for nearly a century.
• Calais Area Heavy Haul Expansion: Situated south-west of Calais, France’s largest quarry generates a fifth of the country’s rail-borne aggregates traffic with three operators providing haulage. Traffic is set to increase thanks to investment in extra terminal capacity, as David Haydock explains.
• Transition Time in the Land of Cheese and Chocolate: With the conversion of the Bulle-Broc line to standard gauge and the bypassing of the terminus at Chatel-St-Denis, the metre gauge network of Gruyere in western Switzerland is going through significant changes. However, amid the modernisation the system’s heritage is still very much alive, as Andrew Thompson discovers.
• Return of the “Brennerloks”: Displaced after only a decade in service with ÖBB, the multi-system Class 1822 electrics have recently made a comeback in Austria, as Roland Beier reports.

News stories include:

• WESTBahn to lease Chinese-built EMUs
• Eurostar secures £250 million rescue package
• Ouigo Espana begins passenger operations
• RENFE proposes daytime Madrid-Lisboa services
• FlixTrain relaunches in Germany
• TGV M Power Car Revealed
• PESA develops hydrogen fuel cell locomotive
• Wien-Amsterdam Nightjet services launched
• Paris-Nice overnight services return
• Transport Ministers sign TEE 2.0 agreement
• RegioJet launches overnight services to Split
• Alstom moves to integrate Bombardier
• First SZ KISS EMU delivered
• Agilis wins Regensburg/Donautal tender
• New trains for Rigi Bahnen
• BLS MIKAs enter service
• NS pauses SGMm withdrawals
• Last BB 67400s in service