The WA Government is under fire over its slow progress on the implementation of the road-to-rail Albany Heavy Freight Forum Action Plan.
Trains will once again roll out between Ballarat and Ararat next week after a 10-year absence. Twice-daily passenger services will return to the line on July 11- a year behind schedule - after an $8 million works project to revive the line.
A group f manufacturing firms, operating under the banner of the Australian Rail Manufacturers consortium, has won an $18m supply contract in connection with the Victorian Fast Rail Project.
There are limits to how much the taxpayer will have to spend on the rail network after it returned to public ownership, officials said.
New Zealand's rail network has been re-nationalised, with the government pledging to invest almost $US130 million over the next four years on trains and track upgrades.
LOS ANGELES Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded a $600m contract to Eastside LRT Constructors for construction of the 9·6km East Los Angeles extension of the Gold Line.
The competition watchdog says it will not oppose Pacific National's $285 million acquisition of Victorian rail operator Freight Australia.
Things may be looking up for many of the southern NSW region's rail workers, after recent talks between their union and the NSW Government.
A RAIL worker was killed yesterday when he fell underneath a moving train in Sydney's south.
After about nine months of tough negotiations, transport giant Toll Holdings yesterday said it had finally agreed to terms for the transfer of New Zealand's rail network back to the Government.
Australia’s rail network has received a major boost through the allocation of extra funds from the national budget, the AusLink strategy, and the leasing of interstate and coal lines in New South Wales to Australian Rail Track Corporation. This will have major benefits for railfreight in Australia.
Freight Australia today welcomed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s ruling that the proposed sale of Victoria’s rail freight network could go ahead.
PACIFIC National's plans to develop a national rail freight network gathered steam today after getting the OK from the competition watchdog to buy Freight Australia.
The brickwork of an old rail bridge in Queensland will be buried beneath a shopping centre, in an unusual solution to a heritage problem.
DESPITE objections from Lindsay Fox's transport group, Linfox, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission yesterday granted its rail rivals clearance to buy Freight Australia.
Thousands of commuters faced lengthy delays this morning when strike action stopped 1,200 public buses in Sydney and Newcastle.
A 10-year-old Korean boy who went missing in Sydney's west has been found unharmed, police said today.
Plagued by claims of widespread pilfering and cowboy conduct, the security force charged with stamping out crime on Sydney's trains is in crisis, with more than half its officers wanting to jump ship.
The spate of train cancellations on Melbourne's rail network will continue for at least another year, Connex has warned.
This weeks sightings have taken a dive and will probably become the norm in the coming weeks, the reason being that the rebuilt line between Melbourne and Ballarat is now open for freight traffic between Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat and all traffic between Bacchus Marsh and Melbourne. The last diverted train through Gheringhap was last Monday night.
India's railways minister has absolved himself of blame for accidents plaguing the world's largest train network, saying the fate of its 13 million daily passengers rested with the Hindu god of machines, Vishwakarma.
Freight Australia has called on the Victorian Government to follow the ACCC and approve the sale to Pacific National.
The Victorian Government has confirmed plans to revamp the Victorian Rail Access Regime. Treasurer Mr John Brumby and Transport Minister Mr Peter Batchelor announced the revamp following the Australian Comp-etition and Consumer Commis-sions decision not to oppose the sale of Freight Australia to Pacific National.
The City of Ballarat is confident the sale of Freight Australia will pave the way for the relocation of Ballarat's freight centre from the city centre to Walsh Estate in Wendouree.
HOBART'S bicentenary tram project could be scrapped when the Hobart City Council's policy committee meets tomorrow as more problems with the proposal emerge.
THREE people travelling home from a wedding were killed by steam when an historic train collided with a truck at a level crossing, a court was told today
Ararat's past is steeped in the history of the railways. Almost 130 years ago, on April 6 1875, people made their way to Ararat in coaches, carriages and on foot for the opening of the new railway.
TOLL Holdings and Patrick Corp will have to wait at least another week to find out if their joint venture rail business, Pacific National, will be allowed to acquire Freight Australia.
Discusses: city demolitions, Nowergup depot, Clarkson station, railcar testing, Thornlie line, Mt Henry bridge, Alice-Darwin contractors and more
A Territory road train's brake lines were deliberately cut in a brazen act of sabotage, it was learned last night.
SYDNEY bus drivers are threatening more industrial action this week unless a pay offer is increased and productivity improvements linked to the wage rise are taken off the table.
The cash-strapped National Trust has spent about $50,000 trying to stop Hobart's Sullivans Cove tramway. And the embattled body could face even more legal bills, adding to its $750,000 debt.
Parliament's investigation of the Madrid train bombings opened yesterday with a witness account of three young men wearing wool caps on a warm spring day, and with handkerchiefs covering their faces, at the station that was the starting point of the attacks.
Toowoomba and Gladstone will be linked by rail for the first time in less than three years.
A MAN fell from a peak-hour train this afternoon, forcing the closure of a railway line in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
A steam train whistled “heaps” of times before it collided with the trailer of a B-double truck, a former Benalla man told Wangaratta Court yesterday.
Pacific National has threatened to withdraw from the $285 million deal to buy Victorian rail operator Freight Australia if the State Government tries to buy back the rail track.
THE first link in the ambitious Melbourne to Darwin railway is expected to be completed by the end of 2006.
Two senior Spanish police officers have contradicted claims soon after the Madrid train bombings made by the government then in power that there was evidence to show Basque separatists were responsible.
Operators of Victorian country rail terminals want the State Government to ensure their businesses are not destroyed and a monopoly created if Pacific National takes over Freight Australia.
Railways Minister Laloo today surprised everyone, with no hikes in fares and freight charges, and touched the hearts of the youth by making second class travel free for those attending interviews for government jobs.
The decision to close a railway branch line near West Wyalong has upset the local community.
FARE evaders face stiff fine increases from next week, with even bigger fines for repeat offenders.
RAIL services will return to Ballarat today following a $130,000 upgrade of the Ballarat-Melbourne line.
Dwindling foreign student numbers and extra trains have reduced passenger loads on Auckland buses, casting doubt on the future of some services.
TEENAGER Maria Sokolova has smiled for the first time since her arm was severed 11 days ago as she was hit by a Melbourne tram.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd has moved a step nearer to becoming the "new force in iron ore" with Worley Group Ltd's appointment to manage detailed studies on its planned $1.85 billion Pilbara project.
Sir Richard Branson’s bid to add a main London to Scotland route to his rail empire ended today. Sir Richard’s Virgin Group was part of a consortium bidding with three other companies for the East Coast Main Line franchise.
Rail has to make giant leaps to persuade companies to take goods off Auckland roads, industry insiders say. Getting more containers on to trains would cut back congestion but exporters such as Auckland Farmers Freezing Company have turned their back on rail.
Work has begun on a new rail link to Cardiff International Airport. The £6m scheme will enable people from as far as Birmingham and Swindon to use the airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan.
Greece has missed another critical deadline for the Athens Olympics because of a two-week delay in completing a rail link from the airport to the city centre.
A chain of booksellers that has been synonymous with Indian rail travel for 125 years is facing the axe because it sounds too English.
A Wodonga truck driver accused of causing a steam train smash that killed three passengers, will have to wait more than two months before he finds out if he will have to stand trial.
On-time running figures for NSW trains were a disgrace, with just under a quarter running on time during last Friday's afternoon peak, the state opposition said today.
In just a few months the Port Fairy railway goods shed has gone from near demolition to being labelled of state cultural heritage significance.
French taxpayers urgently need to learn the real cost of their love affair with the lavishly funded state railway monopoly, a parliamentary report into the train operator SNCF said yesterday.
Within the next week or so Toll Holdings' Paul Little and Patrick Corp's Chris Corrigan will know whether their $285 million bid for Victoria's country rail freight operator, Freight Australia, has succeeded. If it doesn't, it could get ugly.
Train services will return to Ararat and Beaufort this weekend, more than 10 years after the line was closed.
An important new role for Lithgow in international tourism opens next month when the first Ozback Explorer Railcruising Experience train pulls out of this city to follow a meandering route across much of Australia.
WARRNAMBOOL'S rail system is unreliable and unsafe, member for South West Coast Denis Napthine says. Dr Napthine is calling for the State Government to take over the service from West Coast Rail immediately, after timetable confusions and passengers have been frightened with fights.
The first V/Line passenger train in 10 years from Melbourne to Ararat will run this morning.
RESIDENTS of the western Victorian township of Ararat and surrounding communities have welcomed the return of passenger rail services with the first passenger train in more than a decade rolling into town today.
Solid Energy is to bring on an extra coal train each day, which will boost its West Coast distribution capacity from 2.1 million tonnes to 2.4 million tonnes a year and create several new jobs.
A YOUNG woman and her baby have been attacked in a suburban train near Paris by unidentified men who drew swastikas on the mother's stomach. Police today said it was an anti-Semitic assault. The six attackers who were armed with knives clipped the 23-year-old woman's hair, and cut her tee-shirt and trousers before drawing three swastikas on her body.
The RTMs newly restored 3526 is to be officially relaunched this weekend at Central Station in Sydney.
The Australian Army’s use of the newly completed Adelaide to Darwin rail link demonstrates the strategic value of the railway for the Australian Defence Force, Defence Minister Robert Hill said today.
NSW train maintenance workers are threatening to stop doing repairs on some trains in protest over government moves to increase private contractors in the sector.
The Victorian Government is hailing the return of passenger rail services to Ararat after 10 years as a bonus for tourism in the region.
Rail job losses will be felt across the board in the Goulburn area from September 4 when the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) starts a 60-year lease agreement to control the NSW interstate rail network.
The west is back on track. About 4000 people crowded platforms at Ararat and Beaufort stations at the weekend as passenger trains returned for the first time in a decade.
Train services will return to Ararat and Beaufort this weekend, more than 10 years after the line was closed.
The Labor Member for Morwell, Brendan Jenkins, is backing his Government's decision for more competition on the state's rail network.
The Ghan will be a lot longer than usual when it travels through regional South Australia today.
BUS strikes in Sydney may be averted, with the State Transit Authority (STA) expected to put a firm pay offer to drivers this afternoon.
RAILWAY workers threatening strike action over government moves to increase private contractors were not doing their jobs well enough, New South Wales Transport Minister Michael Costa said today.
SYDNEY train commuters will face even more delays and cancellations this week, with RailCorp workers black-banning carriages repaired by contractors from today.
DOUBTS arose today over an alleged anti-Semitic attack on a mother and her baby on a Paris suburban train.
More than 200 vehicles as well as surface-to-air missile systems and their portable radar systems are being freighted from Adelaide to Darwin for use in the Pitch Black military exercises beginning across the Top End next week.
THE new wave in public transport is taking shape as work progresses on the Spencer St station revamp.
The Blue Mountains Line has become more than ever a train spotters' paradise since the opening up of the NSW freight rail system to open competition.
V/LINE will work to build patronage on the reopened Ararat rail line through a range of promotional programs.
Deakin University has added its voice to calls for the Victorian Government to restore normal train services between Warrnambool and Melbourne.
V/Line can not guarantee full rail services will return to the Warrnambool line on September 1 despite an announcement by city Mayor Glenys Phillpot last night.
The largest consignment of military equipment moved by rail in two decades demonstrated the strategic value of the newly completed Adelaide-Darwin railway, Defence Minister Robert Hill said. More than 200 army vehicles, surface-to-air missile systems and some radars were loaded in Adelaide on Monday for transportation to Darwin on the railway.
ABOUT 50 evacuees were allowed to return to their homes and rail services resumed after a gas pipe was ruptured today near Kiama in New South Wales.
CityRail was forced to cancel services for the second day in a row after running out of drivers.
Police were called to the Henty Railway Station to a minor derailment of a wheat carriage on the Henty north siding line at 3.45pm on Monday July 5.
V/Line says it understands Warrnambool residents are frustrated by the current service to Melbourne, with many trains being replaced by buses.
The Victorian Opposition has labelled the latest V/Line performance results "abysmal" and says the State Government needs to do better by country train travellers.
A TRAIN was evacuated after a man began threatening passengers as it travelled through Sydney's south today, police said.
The number of sightings this week was better than expected with 130, this makes a total of 3392 sightings for the year to date. 41 of the sightings were on the B/G which included two diverted 9140's and a diverted 9141 as well as a six car EMU transfer behind T369(WC), the T returned later that day on the down as a light loco movement with a van.
New Zealand asset sales by troubled French engineer Alstom could be blocked by rail operator Toll.
Rail workers have lost an Employment Court battle to keep their collective agreement under a new employer, Connex.
The Government looks set to reveal next week what Australian transport firm Toll Holdings will pay for sole use of the rail network, it was reported today.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is due to announce a major shake-up of the national rail system in a White Paper being released on Thursday.
The controversial decision by British Columbia's Liberal government to unload its Crown-owned railroad in a C$1-billion deal with a private, U.S.-controlled railway company now is final, says Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon.
Tranz Rail has admitted destroying e-mails and "possibly documents" related to a competition inquiry over rival fast ferry Top Cat.
A woman who provoked nationwide outrage and sympathy when she reported being accosted at knifepoint in an anti-Semitic attack on a French commuter train has confessed to making up the story.
The state of Victoria's country rail network will be examined after a spate of derailments and accidents.
The slanging match between the builders of Melbourne's new transport hub and the State Government looks set to drag on.
The Wodonga City Council believes the Victorian Government will soon make a decision on the lease of the state's railway lines.
The State Government has launched an inquiry into Victoria's country rail network following dozens of recent safety breaches and accidents, including derailments and collisions.
The Government today signalled a major shake-up of the railways by grabbing more state control of the system. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced that the Labour-created rail policy body the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) would be scrapped.
The chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, Richard Bowker, is to step down in protest at a government shakeup of the rail industry which he has privately dismissed as an ill-judged form of "quasi renationalisation".
Greens Party MLC, Lee Rhiannon, says the Federal Member for Hume, Alby Schultz, is deceiving the people of Goulburn by trying to dodge responsibility for the loss of 88 railway jobs.
The Victorian Government has defended its decision to order the Director of Public Transport and Safety to conduct an inquiry into eight derailments on country rail tracks.
Rails not properly anchored to sleepers and sub-standard welds that led to tracks breaking when trains passed over them had reportedly compromised safety on Victoria's new regional fast rail network.
NZ's Commerce Commission has referred the destruction of company information at Tranz Rail during a commission inquiry to the police.
Wodonga council remains confident negotiations on the sale of Victorias railway lines will soon be completed. This is despite tensions erupting yesterday between the Victorian Government and the rail networks private operator, Freight Australia.
Perth business veteran Harold Clough, one of Australia's most respected engineers, has branded the Perth to Mandurah rail link a white elephant which he claims will cost taxpayers at least $2 billion.
The Association of Train Operating Companies claims that rail freight traffic has increased by 32.6 per cent over the past 10 years. The association's statistics are based on "freight moved" which do indeed indicate growth in traffic over this period. But using recent Strategic Rail Authority statistics, over the past five years, "freight moved" has only increased from 18.2 to 18.9bn tonne kilometres, a less than flattering increase of less than 4 per cent.
Melbourne's sprinter railcars should be brought to Warrnambool to return a full rail service to the city, according to Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder.
BALTIMORE (AP) - The city sued CSX Corp. on Friday, charging the company was responsible for a train derailment and fire in a tunnel that paralyzed parts of downtown for several days in 2001.
The city wants $10 million for fighting the five-day fire and repairing a broken water main after 11 cars of a 60-car train derailed in the tunnel under the city's central business district.
City Can't Wait For Trains
By Sarah Lipovas
Melbourne's Sprinter Railcars Should be brought to Warrnambool to
return a full & proper Rail service to the city, according to
Opposition Transport Spokesman: Terry Mulder.
Detailed sightings from SA and Vic from 3/7/04 to 17/7/04.
NR29 on 7SA8 & NR30 on MX6
Cityrail station staff fear an angry customer backlash when the new train timetable begins operating on Saturday, slashing some weekend services by up to 50 per cent.
There will be puffing and chuffing tomorrow as Sydney rail enthusiasts mark the 200th anniversary of one of mankind's greatest moments - the running of the world's first steam train.
The Wodonga City Council believes the Victorian Government will soon make a decision on the lease of the state's railway lines.
Trainspotting is a phrase made popular by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, whose book of the same name became the blockbuster British movie of 1996. Now Melbourne artist Daniel Crooks has taken the concept to a new realm.
Who will accept the blame for the way Melbourne's landmark project is languishing? No one, it seems, writes Ewin Hannan.
NZ competition watchdog the Commerce Commission has warned it won't hesitate to use search warrants on companies when investigating allegations into anti-competitive behaviour.
Victoria's Department of Infrastructure (DOI) issued an Issues Paper entitled Improving Rail Safety in Victoria: a Review of the Rail Safety Regulatory Framework on 13th July 2004.
Hi Guy's, The sightings this week are down a little to 124, making a total of 3516 sightings for the year to date.
MELBOURNE'S Flinders St station is decaying as officials wrangle over who should maintain and repair the showpiece.
The pioneer of the Kennett government's rail privatisation program, West Coast Railway, will close its books at the end of next month.
THERE have been times when Ken Devencorn has wondered if the Beaudesert to Bethania tourist railway line he manages in southeast Queensland is cursed. Taxpayers probably think it is given the cost of bailing out the historic steam train has reached more than $6million.
NEARLY $20 million in compensation has been paid to NSW rail passengers in three years – with claims including deep vein thrombosis, chewing gum damage to trousers and spilled coffee. Details of the payouts, obtained by The Daily Telegraph under Freedom of Information laws, has revealed RailCorp has processed 603 compensation claims since 2001.
The Wodonga City Council believes the Victorian Government will soon make a decision on the lease of the state's railway lines.
Victoria's Southern Grampians Council is using the Cabinet visit to the state's west to lobby Premier Steve Bracks for rail standardisation.
The New Zealand Commerce Commission is standing by its claim of "Enron-like" document destruction at Tranz Rail during an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour.
The Ghan passenger train will arrive more than four hours late in Alice Springs after it was involved in an unusual incident north of Adelaide last night.
ANOTHER Mayor, another idea to move people around the Gold Coast.
A train driver shortage affecting the Spencer Street Station redevelopment and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of rail services could get worse by the 2006 Commonwealth Games, a union has warned.
Railway operator FreightLink has transported only about 4000 tonnes so far.
But Port of Darwin trade development manager Gary Scanlon said the trade was still in its infancy.
He said FreightLink hoped to reach its target of 50,000 TEU's (20-foot equivalent units, or about 6m) by 2007.
He said this compared with the Port of Sydney's 1.1 million and the Port of Melbourne's 1.6 million.
THE litany of disasters that is CityRail continues. How one public service agency can continually get things wrong is mind-boggling. If Waterfall and the Millennium trains – which still don't work properly – weren't enough, now the travelling public has to put up with a deteriorating service.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union is concerned about three unrelated, but potentially disastrous incidents in Western Australian over the past week.
THE NSW Government will cut one-third of weekend CityRail trains from Saturday to provide just one extra weekday service.
A Jetstar plane was forced to avoid a Qantas aircraft above Hamilton Island at the weekend, Jetstar said yesterday.
TEENAGER Maria Sokolova has smiled for the first time since her arm was severed 11 days ago as she was hit by a Melbourne tram.
Toll New Zealand will pay $38.4 million to the Government for sole use of the rail network in the year to June 30, 2005.
COUNTRY train users across the north-west are being urged to hit the rails if they want to preserve vital links to Sydney.
A long-serving Wagga Wagga school bus driver says the new New South Wales guidelines on misbehaving students on buses are not that different to the code of conduct already in place.
CityRail's weekend cutbacks will hit pensioners, casual workers and young people hardest - the ones official figures show are most reliant on off-peak trains.
Freight Australia today urged the State Government to launch a full, independent and open public inquiry into all aspects of Victoria’s rail networks. The inquiry should examine all Government projects, including the development of the Regional Fast Rail Network.
The dream of the Ben Chifley engine and its publicly-purchased carriages operating as a tourist train on the Central Tablelands has derailed.
THE Alice-Springs-to-Darwin rail link could not be called a white elephant, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said today.
Sunshine Coast police have asked the south-east Queensland community for help in finding those responsible for damaging two trains earlier this month.
CityRail is losing more train drivers than are graduating from its training program, six months after a critical shortage of staff nearly crippled the commuter rail network.
IT LOOKS like nice work if you can get it, but don't blame the workers. These rail workers, being paid weekend penalty rates to fix up the notoriously unreliable Blue Mountains line, were photographed instead watching the football last Sunday.
The first link in the ambitious Melbourne to Darwin railway is expected to be completed by the end of 2006.
Your Invitation to join us on Puffing Billy for a Literary Luncheon on Friday 6th August 2004.
A $1.3 million upgrade has begun to improve passenger access to 10 railway stations in central west Queensland.
The Castlemaine-based Better Rail Action Group wants work stopped on the Bendigo line until there has been an independent review of the fast rail project.
Lithgow Council has again refused approval for a major residential development at Marrangaroo until a number of issues are addressed by the developer. The biggest issue of concern to Council is the question of access over the main western railway line.
The Public Transport Authority in Western Australia says it does not expect people to be deterred from travelling on the Prospector train service after last week's apparent act of sabotage.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has dismissed an appeal against plans to run trams around Bendigo's Lake Weerona.
A total of 139 people were killed and 57 others were injured when an express train packed with passengers derailed this evening in north-western Turkey, the crisis centre in Ankara said.
AFP
Thirty-six people have been killed when an express train derailed in north-west Turkey, a spokeswoman for the transport ministry crisis centre told AFP, revising an earlier death toll of 139.
Train driver morale was at "rock bottom" despite a pledge by the NSW government that a driver shortage plaguing the rail system would not worsen, their union said.
Sydney's rail network will shut down at least an hour earlier on most lines and passengers face longer travel times and more train swapping when weekend services are slashed tomorrow.
A womanwho died on The Ghan yesterday had to be "pushed, pulled and dragged" off the train because there was no platform at a Northern Territory station.
A swnior Victorian Opposition figure has urged the City of Greater Bendigo council to be cautious about its plans to extend the tram line around Lake Weeroona.
The Public Transport Authority (PTA) says it is working to ensure all journeys on the Prospector train run on time.
ONE person died and about 30 people were injured when two passenger trains collided head on in the south of the Czech Republic today, a Czech railways spokesman said.
A Turkish express train heading to Ankara from Istanbul derailed today, killing as many as 128 people, officials said.
Sydney commuters were again warned to expect delays during today's afternoon peak as a result of a worsening driver shortage.
Turkish authorities faced strong criticism for starting up a fast train service on decade-old tracks, after 36 people perished in one of the country's worst railway disasters.
Twenty-eight years after the Wran government was elected on a platform of putting public transport right, there is precious little left to show for its promise of a "whole new railway".
If decision-makers used the service with the same dependency as the million daily commuters, they would understand this failing alone - among the myriad crises of confidence in the Carr Government - could bring the administration down. Since the highs of the Olympics, when a focus on resources and attention to detail demonstrated achievable excellence, the rail system has staggered from deficiency to disaster, culminating in the farce of a new timetable that sees weekdays pinching from weekends and nights just to apply another Band-Aid to public transport's house of cards.
FREIGHTLINK, the owner-operator of the $1.3 billion Adelaide-Darwin rail link, has defended the service's performance in its first six months. Outgoing chief executive Bruce McGowan said FreightLink was on track to become financially viable by 2008 when freight volumes were expected to reach 800,000 tonnes. In the first six months, FreightLink moved 200,000 tonnes of a first-year target of 350,000 tonnes, Mr McGowan said.
Having watched New Zealand rail begin its journey towards privatisation, former Labour MP Dr Clive Matthewson has found himself in charge of a renationalised rail track network.
THE whistle of the steam train returned to the Walhalla Goldfields for the first time in 60 years yesterday.
A blind woman who will now be forced to spend an extra hour each day travelling to and from work has just one question for the Minister for Transport Services: "Why, Mr Costa?"
A court yesterday charged three men over a train crash in the north-west of the country in which 37 people were killed and 81 injured, the Anatolia news agency reported.
RESIDENTS opposed to extending Bendigo's tram line around Lake Weeroona are planning a protest in an attempt to have the proposal scrapped.
We have had 124 sightings again this week making a total of 3640 sightings for the year to date.
A TRAIN slammed into a minibus crossing the tracks in western Turkey today, killing 15 people and injuring four. The dead and injured - accounting for all 19 people in the minibus - were returning from a wedding party when the accident happened.
Trains in Western Australia's capital, Perth, have been temporarily suspended this morning, with special bus services running in their place.
A NEW train timetable which saw massive cuts to weekend services was going to plan despite 15 formal commuter complaints, the New South Wales government said today.
The crew chief and two others have reportedly been arrested by a Turkish court after a high-speed train crash that killed 36 people and injured 81 this week.
Victoria's regional rail operator has accused the Bracks Government of gambling with passenger safety by opting for a multimillion-dollar fast rail warning system without carrying out a full safety assessment.
The South Australian Government is beefing up security on Adelaide's trains, with a half-a-million dollar upgrade.
A blind woman who will now be forced to spend an extra hour each day travelling to and from work has just one question for the Minister for Transport Services: "Why, Mr Costa?"
CityRail says despite some minor delays this morning, the new timetable has been able to cope with peak demand, after running well all weekend.
NSW commuters were warned today to get used to changing trains mid-journey as a new weekday timetable took effect.
Freight train drivers have expressed concerns over a new automated safety system to be installed on Victoria's regional fast-rail network.
It was an unusual sight on a railway station: as many commuters flipping through the new CityRail timetable as were reading newspapers.
THE Bendigo Liberal Party has gone into damage control mode over the controversy surrounding its candidate for the federal seat of Bendigo.
A passenger train slammed into a minibus at a railroad crossing today in western Turkey, killing 15 people and injuring four just days after the deadly derailment of a Turkish express train.
Connex has ruled out shortening the 68 weeks it takes to train new train drivers as a way of easing the driver shortage crippling Melbourne's rail network.
NSW commuters were warned today to get used to changing trains mid-journey as a new weekday timetable took effect.
Trains in Western Australia's capital, Perth, have been temporarily suspended this morning, with special bus services running in their place.
A central Australian airline has drawn up a business plan outlining proposed passenger flights between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
A United Airlines flight was forced to return to Sydney International Airport as a precaution because of a problem on board, the airline said.
Victoria's regional rail operator has accused the Bracks Government of gambling with passenger safety by opting for a multimillion-dollar fast rail warning system without carrying out a full safety assessment.
EFFICIENT transport of people and freight across Bass Strait is vital to the future of Tasmania. And that is the vision behind the Port of Devonport's five-year strategy. Launched yesterday in Devonport by Infrastructure, Energy and Resources Minister Bryan Green, the strategy hopes to provide a springboard for future development at the port.
Freight Australia today called on the State Government to properly review the introduction of a new train stop enforcement system - the Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) for Victoria’s Regional Fast Rail Network pending the results of a full Safety Case assessment.
Tranz Rail has admitted destroying e-mails and "possibly documents" related to a competition inquiry over rival fast ferry Top Cat.
ACCESS to Pages Beach and Point Moore from Marine Terrace will be blocked off for the next nine months as part of ongoing works for the Geraldton Southern Transport Corridor (GSTC).
A consultant has been appointed to carry out an independent inquiry into the safety of the Victorian country rail network.
CityRail says a continuing industrial campaign by train drivers in Wollongong and high levels of sickness are to blame for another disruption of train services on the south coast line.
The State Rail Authority of New South Wales has ordered a billboard promoting Queanbeyan-based Federal MP Gary Nairn to be pulled down because it is political advertising.
A Victorian coroner has suggested the State Government develop an advertising campaign to make parents aware of their children's deficiencies in traffic safety.
Country train passengers face cuts to services as travellers abandon rail travel for cheap fares on the budget airline Jetstar.
The Victorian Government is believed to be planning legal action if Pacific National scales back its Freight Australia bid to 49 per cent to avoid having to get state approval for the deal.
Pacific National could be forced to quarantine the rail track assets of acquisition target Freight Australia into a subsidiary company, under proposals released by the Victorian Government yesterday.
Iarnród Éireann has announced that improvement works on commuter rail services in north Dublin will begin this weekend.
The Victorian government is being attacked in the US Congress and the US Trade Department over its "interference" in the sale of a rail network privatised by the former Liberal regime of Jeff Kennett.
The New South Wales Farmers Association says it is convinced Transport Minister Michael Costa will close the state's railway branch lines.
V/Line has committed to three return rail trips a day between Melbourne and Warrnambool when it takes over the franchise from West Coast Railway.
One of Victoria's biggest rail freight operators has welcomed a State Government options paper on ways of improving access to Victoria's rail network.
The 3,699km stretch of National Highway 1 has been renamed the Savannah Way and aims to entice more travellers to regional Australia.
The Victorian government has dismissed efforts by an American rail company to rally US Congressional support for the stalled sale of an Australian freight operator.
A proposal for a light rail system for Fraser Island, off south-east Queensland, will be on the agenda at an upcoming conference in nearby Noosa.
$58.9 million to begin preliminary engineering
The decades-old dream of building a Metro line to Washington Dulles Airport got a boost last week as the federal government opened the funding spigot and sent $58.9 million pouring into state coffers for the project.
Train delays caused by Network Rail have fallen by 21 per cent in the areas where the company has taken control of maintenance away from private contractors.
The Victorian Govern-ment has dismissed an American rail companys efforts to rally U.S. Congressional support for the stalled $285 million sale of a freight operator.
A Shoalhaven councillor is concerned there may be further cuts to the south coast railway line between Kiama and Bomaderry.
A new Victorian public transport smartcard system to be introduced in 2007 would make travel cheaper and easier for commuters, Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said.