The Sleeper's Blog

Calling all women: have your say on the barriers of the rail industry

18 July 2017Women have been instrumental in delivering large-scale projects in the rail industry, such as the Northern Powerhouse, and organisations like Network Rail have recently been relentlessly vocal about their commitments to diversifying the workforce....

Increased staff training having ‘real impact’ on reducing railway suicides

30 June 2017On the railway, the prevention of suicides is a sad necessity that all staff increasingly need to be trained and prepared to deal with. But today, information released by the Samaritans has showed how a growing number of people working on the rai...

RTM joins industry to take part in Big Rail Diversity Challenge 2017

16 June 2017Last week, a team from Rail Technology Magazine competed in the second annual Big Rail Diversity Challenge which took place on 7 June. Held at the East of England Arena in Peterborough, the event aims to promote diversity in the rail industry by...

RTM team joins rail industry in action-packed Big Rail Diversity Challenge

09 June 2017For the second year running, members of the rail industry workforce will converge at Peterborough Arena today to participate in the innovative and action-packed Big Rail Diversity Challenge. And this year, RTM will be present not only as the even...

TOC marks anniversary of railway safety education programme

06 June 2017Learning to travel independently on the railway and how to be safe around trains is an essential life lesson for any young person. And today, one operator has announced that its programme aimed at teaching children about the railway has reached t...

New play makes a song and dance of Southern rail crisis

02 June 2017A new play satirising the ongoing Southern Rail crisis is set to debut in Brighton this weekend. Written by Simon Levenson and directed by Mark Brailsford, ‘Southern Fail: The Musical’ centres around a romance between two commuters &n...

Steam locomotion returns to Borders Railway for summer

30 May 2017History buffs and train enthusiasts will be delighted to hear that this summer they will once again be given the chance to hop on a steam train and travel through some of Scotland’s tranquil countryside. That’s because this week, Visi...

Opinion poll: HS3 must take priority over Crossrail 2

19 May 2017Fresh from their victories in the metro mayor elections earlier this month, new leaders of Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram were quick to make transport a top priority for their cities last week. In a p...

Vivarail: D-Trains now ready for sale

18 May 2017Vivarail has announced that its first two production D-Trains are ready for sale, with delivery likely to be completed in early 2018. The trains can be built and delivered ahead of the forecast schedule due to increased production capacity as Viv...

Virgin begins hunt for innovating rail start-ups

16 May 2017Virgin Trains has this week called on the next generation of innovative start-up businesses to pitch original ideas to solve a set of rail industry challenges. The company has partnered with PlatformX – a business accelerator programme to d...

60 seconds with… Adeline Ginn, founder of Women in Rail

09 May 2017We catch up with Adeline Ginn, founder of Women in Rail (WR), about the rail industry's outlook and the importance of investing in people. What are the biggest challenges facing the rail industry in the next 12 months? Over the last two dec...

Royal Assent: a huge step forward

28 April 2017Jim Steer, director of Greengauge 21, reflects on the first phase of HS2 receiving Royal Assent and what challenges lie ahead.  The powers to build the first phase of HS2 – linking Euston with Birmingham Curzon Street and with the West...

Digital service to reunite passengers with lost valuables trialled in Wales

11 April 2017Customers pulling their hair out at constantly leaving their valuables on the train may be in luck, as an innovative new system may help them track down their possessions. The system, FindMyLost, is a digital service which allows passengers and r...

Vivarail unveil new images of D-Train DMU

29 March 2017People excited about Vivarail’s new battery powered train will be pleased to know that the company has today released new images of its D-train – including a first peek at the interior of its carriage. Last week, RTM reported that the...

Raising wall work at Linlithgow heritage railway site completed

24 March 2017Work has been completed to raise the height of walls bordering the railway heritage site at Royal Terrace and Union Road in Linlithgow, as part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP). A total of £650k has been put into the pr...