Anglia Railways

Anglia Railways was a British train operating company, owned by GB Railways, which between 5 January 1997 and 31 March 2004 operated mainline trains out of London Liverpool Street station and a number of local rail services in East Anglia. It also introduced a pioneering service outside of the territory inherited with the franchise. The service was called "London Crosslink" and ran from the Great Eastern Main Line via the North London Line to Basingstoke. This service ran from 30 May 2000 to 28 September 2002.

On 1 April 2004 its franchise was transferred to Train Operating Company London Eastern Railway Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the National Express Group. Its services were initially branded 'one' and have since been rebranded as National Express East Anglia.

The decision to transfer the franchise to National Express was controversial, since Anglia was twice awarded "Train Operator of the Year"[1] and also "European Train Operator of Year 2000" [2]. Anglia Railways was very popular with passengers, its parent company GB Railways, was purchased by First Group, operator of First Great Eastern, who had won the "Train Operator of the Year" award once as well. National Express on the other hand had a reputation for poor service (Central Trains).

Israel Railways

Israel Railways (Hebrew: רַכֶּבֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Rakevet Yisra'el) is Israel's government-owned national railway company and is responsible for all inter-city and suburban railway passenger and freight traffic in the country. It utilizes the standard gauge in all its lines. The network is centered in Israel's densely populated coastal plain from where lines radiate out from Tel Aviv in many directions. Unlike road vehicles, Israeli trains run on the left side of the tracks.

Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railway began in 1862. In the same year it opened 53.11 kilometers broad gauge line for traffic on 15 November between Darsana and Jagiti. The next 14.98 kilometers meter gauge line was opened for traffic on 4th January 1885. In 1891, the construction of then Assam-Bengal Railway was taken up with British Government assistance but that was later on taken over by the Assam-Bengal Railway Company. On 1 July 1895, two sections of meter gauge lines were opened between Chittagong and Comilla, a length of 149.89 kilometers and between Laksam and Cahndpur, a length of 50.89 kilometers. Railway Companies formed in England took up the construction and operation of these sections in middle and late 19th century. [1]

Bangladesh Railway was mostly inherited from the British-established Assam Bengal railway system after the partition of India in 1947. Railway acts as an important method of mass transport in Bangladesh. Many districts of the country are connected via railways. At present Bangladesh Railway has got 2855 route kilometers.

Bernese Oberland Railway

The Bernese Oberland Railway (BOB) connects Interlaken, (Interlaken Ost railway station) with Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. Two train compositions are usually coupled together to travel to Zweilütschinen where they are then split. One train travels to Grindelwald, the other to Lauterbrunnen. In recent years, all compositions have been assembled with shuttle potential.

The locomotive is always positioned on the uphill side. A control car with a driver’s cab is always positioned on the downhill side to avoid any switching manoeuvres at terminus stations.

The railway began operating 1890, and was electrified in 1914. From the introduction of the 1999 timetable, a newly constructed 2.5km section of dual track between Zweilütschinen and Wilderswil allows trains to pass without one having to wait on a side-line.

Rail transport in Ireland

Rail services in Ireland are provided by Iarnród Éireann in the Republic of Ireland and by Northern Ireland Railways in Northern Ireland.

The gauge is 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Irish gauge. Most routes in the Republic radiate from Dublin. Northern Ireland has suburban routes from Belfast and two main lines, to Derry and the cross-border route to Dublin.

A major infrastructure plan for the Republic of Ireland, Transport 21, was announced by the Minister of Transport on 1 November 2005, to include heavy rail, light rail and metro projects in the period to 2015.

The accompanying map of the current railway network shows lines that are fully operational, lines carrying freight only traffic, and lines which have been "mothballed" (i.e. closed to traffic but potentially easily re-openable). Some airports are indicated but none is rail-connected although Farranfore and Belfast City Airport are within walking distance of a railway station. Both the City of Derry Airport and Belfast International (Aldergrove) are near railway lines but not connected. Ports are marked, though few remain rail-connected.

Rail transport in Great Britain

The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world. It consists of 21,000 miles (34,000 km) of standard gauge track, of which 3062 is electrified.

Passenger train services in Great Britain are, in the main, structured on the basis of regional franchises awarded by the Department for Transport (DfT) to Train Operating Companies. Some slight variations include Merseyrail where the franchise is awarded by Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive and ScotRail where the DfT awards on the advice of the Scottish Government. There were initially twenty-five such franchises, but the number of different operating companies is smaller as some firms, including First Group, National Express Group and Stagecoach Group, have more than one franchise. In addition some franchises have since been combined. There are a number of local or specialised rail services operated on an 'open access' basis outside the franchise arrangements. Examples include the Heathrow Express and Hull Trains.

Serbian Railways

On August 20, 1854, the first horse-drawn railway was opened on Lisava–Oravica–Bazijas line. The first traffic with steam traction was opened in 1856. Serbian Railways as a company is traced back to 1881 when King Milan I declared formation of the Serbian National Railways. The first royal train departed from Belgrade to Niš on August 23, 1884, which is considered by Serbian Railways as the official year when the company was created. The first electrified line was opened between Belgrade and Šid in 1970.

From the 1920s to the dissolution of Yugoslavia it operated under the name Yugoslav Railways. The department responsible for in-train service and catering is called "KSR - Kola za Spavanje i Ručavanje" (in English: "The Dining and Sleeping Wagons)"