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In recent years, there has been a continuous and rapid increase in the number of urban mass railway transportation systems put in revenue service worldwide. As new metro, tramway, and monorail systems are being put into circulation, they are supplemented by innovations in rolling stock, infrastructure, and operational equipment / procedures. As a result, they provide more efficient public transport to more people. Consequently, the need arises for frequent updates of relevant data. This paper initially attempts to systematically record the tramways, the metros, and the monorails currently in revenue service and under construction worldwide. It continues with a statistical analysis of their basic characteristics in an effort to showcase and compare trends. For meaningful information to be acquired, data acquisition is based on clear definitions of such systems. In this aspect, the paper provides clear criteria for the distinction of urban mass railway systems. The findings were recorded at the end of 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a specific procedure is adopted for making a distinction between conventional-speed rail, high-speed rail, and very high-speed rail. The criteria adopted correspond to the needs of the actors that manage the 3 constituents of a railway system and namely the infrastructure managers (track) and the operators (rolling stock, railway services). Based on this distinction, research was focused on: a) identifying all countries, which possess at least one track of very high-speed b) making a record, for all the identified countries, of the total length of tracks that are characterized as very highspeed tracks c) analyzing the evolution of the construction of very highspeed tracks over the years d) making a record of very high-speed trains that were set in circulation over the last 5 years Making a record per country, of the longest direct route, which, based on the adopted definition, provides services of very high-speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following article describes the technical characteristics and the methods for maintaining efficient railway lines in some northern European countries that are historically accustomed to facing adverse weather conditions. We start by presenting the main meteorological phenomena which cause problems to the railway infrastructure and rolling stock. Subsequently, the procedures for the preparation and planning of activities in winter conditions of the Russian railway network and the northern European countries are presented. Some general considerations conclude the document. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines how several technological challenges were overcome by the tram-train railway project, which is under ownership and management of the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (Adif), in Cádiz Bay, Spain. These challenges include the track gauge, the passenger access and the bogies. The infrastructure, rolling stock, operation and future expansion plans for the project is also discussed.

The article discusses a study on the performance of trains with tilting systems as an alternative to rolling stock trains circulating in Sardinia, Italy. It states that OpenTrack, a railway simulation software was used to assess problems and average speed along the railway of the train. It mentions that the simulation of the running train in Sardinia rail network was developed to determine the daily carrying capacity and the coverage time.

The article informs that the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) in India has placed order for the largest urban rolling stock including supply of 248 metro cars for Mumbai Metro Line 3 and mentions contract as the biggest rolling stock contract for Alstom in India.