Transport & Infrastructure News and Discussions

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*and severely f*ck up the atmosphere

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... lue-origin

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How Trains Can Transform Persian Gulf Politics and Global Security
By Stacy D. VanDeveer and Firmesk Rahim
August 5, 2026

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, wider tensions in the Red Sea and the oil price spikes these circumstances occassion have made one thing abundantly clear: Gulf countries and global markets are dependent on vulnerable maritime routes.

But while national leaders and diplomats work to free up crucial waterways through which much of the world’s trade passes, another transport phenomenon is tentatively underway. For over 15 years, six Arab Gulf countries have been quietly cooperating to build a railway network – and the project has recently accelerated.

The aim is to increase the Gulf’s economic integration and improve the region’s resilience and security. But as experts of global governance and political economy, we also ask: Could such a rail project help reshape politics and conflict in the region?

That question is especially salient now, given that the U.S.-Iran war has meant months of severely disrupted and largely halted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/how-trains ... y-288055

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and in the same heartbeat he will glaze Elon "Car-Centric Cities" Musk

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Virgin Trains gets go ahead to run services to Europe in new blow to Eurostar monopoly

Mon 17 Aug 2026

Virgin Trains has been granted track access by the rail regulator to run new services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030, moving forward its plans to break Eurostar’s passenger monopoly on the cross-Channel route.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said it had granted approval for Sir Richard Branson’s company to run up to 20 new daily return services through the Channel tunnel.

The agreement, which covers the period between 1 October 2030 to 31 December 2040, means Virgin Trains has passed another important regulatory hurdle towards starting the international services, after being granted access last October to share Eurostar’s Temple Mills depot in east London to maintain and store trains.

Temple Mills is the only depot that can be accessed from High Speed 1, the line that runs between London and the tunnel.

Eurostar, which was formerly part-owned by the UK taxpayer but is now controlled by the French rail operator SNCF, has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel since it opened in 1994. Eurotunnel, operator of LeShuttle, takes vehicles on the cross-Channel route.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... e-eurostar



Photograph: Virgin Trains/PA

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