USA: Refurbished ‘Big Boy’ locomotive fires up crowds in US West
It weighs more than a Boeing 747 and could pull 16 Statues of Liberty over a mountain. Now, after five years of restoration, the Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive has headed out on a yearlong tour to commemorate the Transcontinental Railroad’s 150th anniversary. [apnews.com]
Middle East: Doha opens first metro line
Public services have begun on the first phase of the metro network in the Qatari capital Doha with a soft launch of operations on the Red Line South. [metro-report.com]
The USA is terrible at building high-speed rail — here’s why
The U.S. has no true high-speed trains, aside from sections of Amtrak’s Acela line in the Northeast Corridor. California’s high-speed rail system is under construction, but whether it will ever get completed as intended is uncertain. [cnbc.com]
USA: 12 ways the Golden Spike changed Utah and America forever
Completing the transcontinental railroad 150 years ago at Promontory Summit forever changed Utah and the nation — driving radical transformation in everything from the economy to the environment, from settlement to the culture. [sltrib.com]
Asia: Eco-friendly train planned for Narita-Haneda route in autumn
This fall, Keisei Electric Railway Co. will introduce the eco-friendly 3,100-series train for its Narita Sky Access Line that connects Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture and Haneda Airport in Tokyo. [asahi.com]
Asia: Nepal to begin work on rail links to China and India “within two years”
The government of Nepal has said technical studies for the construction of railways linking it with India and China have been completed, and construction work will begin by 2021. [globalconstructionreview.com]
Germany’s DB plans half-hourly Hamburg – Berlin services from 2021
Half-hourly inter-city services will be launched on the Hamburg – Berlin route in December 2021 with six additional daily services and a 20% increase in seating capacity. [railjournal.com]
