News Archives - Rail travel

Let’s hop aboard an electric trolleybus

There was a time when many British towns and cities hummed with the sound of the trolleybus. Bridging the gap between trams and diesel buses, the benefits of the electric trolleybus include zero emissions on the street, very little noise, and powerful, smooth acceleration. And from the perspective of the operator, trolleybuses offer lower maintenance costs. Given their strengths, it’s…

Do you match the mode of travel to your trip?

How flexible are you about how you travel? What mode of transport would you choose for a trip to the local shops? The commute to work? A holiday in France? An expedition to Senegal? The appetite for large 4×4 cars is as keen as ever. However, while these cars are sold on the promise of adventure, how often do they…

Our friends electric: How Europe is cleaning up its railways

Britain may have an electric railway that this year celebrates its 134th birthday, but electrification of the entire network lags behind other European countries. Forty per cent of the British rail network was electrified by 2006, representing 60% of all rail journeys. However, electrification of remaining lines, particularly with the more-efficient overhead lines, remains slow. While we wring our hands about the financial…

Future rail travel: ‘broadband for transportation’

As the debate in Britain over the high-speed rail project HS2 continues to simmer, in America, the billionaire inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk has turned his attention to rail travel of the near future and a high-speed connection between Los Angeles and San Francisco code-named Hyperloop One – a 800 mph-concept referred to as “a cross between a Concorde, a…