January 2021

START OF ” THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF RAIL “

At the end of December the European Union(EU) formally launched this initiative as part of their “Green New Deal” project. There will be a series of events during the year promoting rail. We are also expecting various planned improvements to the rail network to be “speeded-up” during the year. Although the UK is no longer a member of the EU, we are hoping that they will formally support this initiative.

Further information at https://europa.eu/year-of-rail/index_en

Scientific evidence: rail is Covid-safe

The UIC (International Union of Railways) in December published a state-of-the-art document with examples of scientific evidence, case studies and mathematical models that shows that clusters of Covid-19 are rare on public transport and among train staff, and that the probability of becoming infected on public transport is relatively low. A separate chapter focuses on the risk perception of Covid-19 on public transport and shows that, according to recent surveys, members of the general public have said that they would be eager to return if mitigation measures are put in place.

Further information at https://uic.org/com/enews/article/the-uic-covid-19-task-force-has-published-a-new-state-of-the-art-entitled