Lutz Bertling will take over as President and Chief Operating Officer of Berlin-based Bombardier Transportation in June. Prior to joining Bombardier, Bertling was President and Chief Executive of Eurocopter Group, a subsidiary of EADS. He will replace André Navarri, who will remain as Strategic Advisor to the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier Inc  Pierre Beaudoin until he retires in 2014.  ...

Cape Town’s first easy access bus - the Optare Solo SR - has been introduced for residents living on the MyCiTi route from Civic Centre to Walmer Estate and Salt River on Table Mountain. Joining residents and students at the Cape Peninsula University are previously excluded groups such as the blind and mobility impaired. The route provides connections to the Cape Town and Salt River railheads as well as the City and other MyCiTi routes from Civic Centre station. It created an operating...

The majority of the world’s population now live in urban areas. That point was reached in 2008, according to official UN statistics, as the continuing migration from the countryside and population growth within metropolitan areas have combined to  change the way the majority of the world’s citizens live. 3.3 billion of us now live in urban areas. In 1950 there was just one city of over 10m people – New York. Now there are 27, and experts believe that by the end of 2015,...

Chinese electric bus specialist BYD and Bulmineral Ltd of Bulgaria have signed an agreement to create a 50:50 joint venture company, named Auto Group Motors, to produce electric buses in Europe. This is claimed to be the first electric bus JV company in Europe and the first overseas electric vehicle JV for BYD. BYD, which is the worlds largest all-electric bus manufacturer, will manufacture pure electric buses in Breznik, Bulgaria, targeting both local markets in Bulgaria and elsewhere in...

Alongside the UK’s leading passenger transport directors and decision-makers are their equivalents in Europe, both within the individual states, and across the continent as a whole. New Transit cannot attempt to produce similar lists to that for the UK for each European country, but we do recognise that there is a Europe-wide group of big hitters who either have activity and influence beyond their own borders, or are leaders of innovation and achievement within their own domain, and are...

Across the transport sector there are certain individuals whose activities stand out either as beyond the significance of their own specific role within an organisation, or for introducing new ideas from an inventive technological or entrepreneurial standpoint. In an era of rapid change to the way transport services are managed, marketed and paid for it is not surprising that a group of such people feature amongst our power list. Elaine Rosscraig, Stagecoach’s head of bus customer...

European Commission vice president for transport Siim Kallas has been forced by France and Germany to accept a watered down version of his long awaited plans for the EU’s Fourth Railway Package. The new framework designed to encourage greater competition and innovation in rail services has now accepted single-company infrastructure and train operators as a way for countries to organise their railways. Throughout the formulation of the Fourth Railway Package, published in February, Kallas...

Vehicle interiors are a regular part of my work - and perhaps the most challenging. Trying to make them attractive, exciting, stylish, cool, classy, sassy, striking, calming, sumptuous, possibly all at the same time. So it strikes me as odd that the very environment that can make people enjoy a journey and relish making it again, can so often be average to bad. Let down by poor design, inferior detailing and a singular lack of understanding as to how our eyes need to be pleased, let alone our...

The European railway industry put on an impressive display of its buoyancy and technological innovation at this year’s biennial Innotrans exhibition in Berlin. There could be little doubt that the sector is booming and the manufacturers are on a impressive programme of technological innovation and design development- particularly in the areas of high speed trains, high capacity commuter rolling stock, new generation trams and providing vehicles to the growing number of open access and...

Non-stop interchange One of the things that most spoils high speed rail is the need for trains to make intermediate stops. The faster the train’s design speed, the greater the penalty for stopping. While it’s no problem on a low speed rural branch line for a local train stop at a station, the amount of time it takes to decelerate a high speed train from 200mph to 0mph, and then back again, makes a huge addition to its journey time, which could otherwise be offered for end-to-end...

Smart Links - the range of short distance, often automated transport modes - have begun to shake up long-held models of what public transport is, and what it can do, over the last decade. Yet they are still only just beginning to show their true utility. This fledgling sector could well be in a position similar to the early years of railway development, when pioneering lines showed the potential, but it took several years before the rest of the world caught on and railway mania exploded. If...

A potential contradiction lies at the heart of current developments in heavily used urban public transport:  Capacity versus comfort. To be popular, and play its part in the functioning of cities, most practitioners would agree that public transport in cities should be attracting motorists from their use of private cars, by providing a high quality alternative. To be cost effective however, particularly at peak times, each vehicle also needs to shift high volumes of people. The balancing...

The European Bus System of the Future project is an initiative of the EU Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Running from September 2008 to September 2012, it was a four-year project with an overall budget of E26 million (E16 million co-funded) and coordinated by UITP, the International Association of Public Transport. The project was seen as a major opportunity for bus manufacturers and operating authorities to transform the image of bus...

Along with tram-train, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is one of the longest established ‘blended’ modes of transport. It’s also one of the hardest to define, covering a wide range of technologies and operating environments, and even names. It’s known as BHNS in France, for example. What is certain is that the concept is going from strength to strength, and new systems are coming on stream at a fast pace. The latest data from EMBARQ, the international specialists in the concept,...

I t might be a conventional heavy rail infrastructure operator, but Britain’s Network Rail has been doing some very unconventional thinking about what sort of vehicles could run passenger services on its tracks. Railways don’t have to be operated by trains, it acknowledges. Blended mode technologies like guided buses and tram-trains might be just as appropriate, and even trains themselves might operate differently to today’s conventional understanding. Network Rail’s...

When does a light rail scheme become a metro? And when does a metro become a suburban or commuter rail system? As railway vehicle technologies and system specifi cations move forward, it is becoming increasingly hard to tell where the dividing line is, and as successful light rail schemes generate more patronage, they are morphing into something much more like metros where planners and promoters are willing to let systems develop organically. Likewise with the arrival of more cross city...

More than 50 exhibitors met over 500 visitors at this year’s Travel 2020 event at the Kia Oval in London on October 10th and 11th. Smart systems for passenger information, payment, management support and customer service represented the core exhibits, along with complimentary transport and mobility concepts including car share and demand responsive systems. Visitors came from transport operators in the UK and Europe, local transport authorities and government bodies, plus innovative...

If there is one thing that has helped railways re-invent themselves as a sexy futuristic travel mode it has to be the coming of the high-speed train. Starting in Japan with the ShinKansen Bullet trains, and now a global phenomenon, just the initials ICE, TGV or HST seem to conjure a magical response amongst both users, and more importantly, political leaders. Everyone seems to want to have a cutting edge high-speed network with suitably stylish and iconic trains. This year’s Innotrans...

Success in a nice problem to have, but finding the best solution to the problem of a lack of capacity in the face of rising passenger numbers can prove challenging. A number of rapid transit systems across Europe are facing that challenge in different ways. Introducing Bus Rapid Transit has a record of building the market by changing perceptions of conventional bus services, and in the UK, the Cambridgeshire guided busway opened last year has proved a real hit. It carried its one-millionth...

An on board train system from Clearsy  has been designed to measure the distance between the platform and the train before installing a gap-bridging system as well as authorising it and deploying it. The gap-filler is a mobile platform filling the space between the train and the platform edge to help passengers with reduced mobility. GAPS comprises lasers which scan the edge of the platform and receive the data to check whether or not the platform is compatible with the gap filler. It then...

From a background deeply routed in hardware and consumer electronics for transport, and other sectors, multinational giant Siemens is rapidly pushing forward its mission to be the provider of ‘smart’ solutions for multifunction travel and urban consumer activities. It is just one of a growing group of major companies eyeing up the travel market and launching new consumer transaction concepts. It sees the dominant trend of urbanization giving city governments the chance to turn...

A trio of 11m-long Optare Versa EVs now entering service with Travel De Courcey in Coventry are the largest battery-powered electric buses currently running in the UK, with a passenger capacity of over 50. They are being supported in service by two ABB Terra 51 fast-charging stations, designed to charge their batteries to full capacity in under two hours. The system offers the company the ability to recharge the batteries during the day during a layover, as well as overnight. This provides the...

A demonstration run by the UK’s first hydrogen-powered locomotive was a feature of the seventh International Hydrail Conference on July 3-4, hosted by the University of Birmingham and sponsored by the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research & Education. The 260 mm gauge locomotive had been built by the university’s students and staff to compete in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ inaugural Railway Challenge contest. Built mainly from off-the-shelf components, it is...

CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive in China has unveiled a prototype light metro trainset which uses supercapacitor energy storage to operate without an external power supply. Developed in conjunction with Chinese Academy of Engineering, the trainset has underfloor power pick-ups which are used to charge the roof-mounted supercapacitor unit from a fixed supply while the train is stood at a station. Charging takes 30 sec and can power the train for 2 km. Energy regenerated during braking is...

The announcement of the government’s electrification plan for the UK railway network during 2014-19 (see New Directions page 8) has allowed confirmation of £4.5bn of orders for the government-procured Intercity Express trains for the new East Coast and Great Western franchises, under moves that will bring their assembly to a new factory in Britain. Agility Trains (a consortium of Hitachi and John Laing) was originally named supplier and maintainer of the replacements for the ageing...

Relatively short connections in the transport network can have a disproportionate significance in both addressing end-to-end journey requirements, and complementing the accessibility needs of large activity sites and potential new development opportunities. In this field, some recent innovative systems are showing exciting potential to tackle problems in new ways – and even more economically and rapidly than hitherto. A group of emerging, new generation short transport concepts are...

Britain’s tramway systems lag behind those in mainland Europe but at least some are growing. Six new trams at London Tramlink have enabled service frequencies to increase by 50% over the busiest section of routes centred on Croydon, south London. Tramlink currently carries 29 million passengers per year, up 45% from the figures in 2000, when it opened, without any increase in network length. The new Variobahn trams cost £16.3m (of which £3m was contributed by Croydon Council)...

New buses from manufacturer VDL have achieved claimed significant additional weight savings which reduce fuel consumption, so cutting costs and improving operators’ environmental impact. The Transport Publics 2012 exhibition saw VDL displaying its Citea Light Low Entry model, which is an innovative, low weight concept for a low-entry single deck bus designed for both city and intercity transport. New methods of construction have resulted in a very low weight, leading to considerably...

A range of innovative concepts have been emerging to provide rail based transport solutions for areas of low demand over short distances. The fruits of both individual inventors and large companies looking for the next technology, they have featured smaller, alternatively powered vehicles capable of running on both existing and new track for journey lengths of 2kms or so. The quest has been to find economical and attractive links to the main rail networks that can replace conventional branch...

The announcement by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) that it is to press ahead with a long-mooted pilot scheme to test the Tram-Train concept in South Yorkshire finds it hard to explain why the government really thinks a trial of an already proven technology is necessary. After all, systems where the line between a tramway and a suburban railway has been blurred to achieve a new form of connectivity are now well established in Europe, and even in the UK. Perhaps the British project has...

The new cable car across the Thames in East London has joined the capital’s transport system in time for the Olympics. The five-minute 1km trip, costing £3.20 with an Oyster card, links the Greenwich Peninsula to Docklands. Supplied by Doppelmayr, it was built by Mace working with Watson Steel, URS Scott Wilson, lead consultant; Buro Happold, structural engineer: and architects Aedas and Wilkinson Eyre. Officially opened by Mayor Boris Johnson, the cable car connects two Olympic...

There was considerable media coverage earlier this year when the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders published its 2012 New Car CO2 Emissions Report, and announced that the automotive industry was playing its part in combating climate change. According to SMMT’s figures, a new car bought in the UK is now 18.0% more efficient than the average car in use in the UK. A new car in 2011 emitted 27.2% less CO2 than one did 15 years ago while CO2 emissions from all cars in use...