Q_rex published an exhaustive photo report of the fair, reproposed in the gallery of this post.

Moreover you can have a look to this entry on Metroblog for some additional photos of the event (and of the rail ring).

It’s the question raised by ILCAD (International Level Crossing Awareness Day) during the conference of 9 June 2011:

There is no doubt that the train is the safest form of land transportation. It is when then adds to this the direct interfaces with other forms of transport that the operational risks for rail increase. The interface between road and rail at level crossings is one of the most significant risks and one that the rail sector is not able to control without support from other key players.
Level crossings are an inherently easy way for people to cross the railway and are completely safe if the rules are followed by those using them. It is these users neglecting traffic rules at level crossings that not only put themselves at risk but also people travelling or working on trains. It is statistically clear that most of the accidents that occur at level crossings are caused by road users and pedestrians mainly because of their misbehaviour.
That is why it is so important to highlight this issue and bring these risks to the attention of level crossing users and make them aware of the risks they run by not taking care. This is of course not a problem that can be uniquely addressed by the rail community, it has to be handled as one of shared concern amongst several players, including the road and rail sectors, police forces, road users and those with responsibility for licensing those users as well as with pedestrians including cyclists.
It is a general misconception that level crossings are a rail problem when in fact it has always been and remains very much an interface between two modes and each has its role to play.
It would be quite easy for those companies responsible for rail infrastructure and national safety authorities to simply engineer-out the problem by closing level crossings. This is of course not a realistic solution for a number of economic reasons.
As with any risk situation it is far better to get to the root of the problem and develop a campaign of education of the users and the partners on the other side of the interface so that people are learning to appreciate the risks and respecting the traffic rules. Changing the behavioural approach will decrease the number of accidents at level crossings.
It is as a significant contribution to this educational approach that ILCAD was born. The International Level Crossing Awareness Day on 9 June 2011 focuses on educational measures and the promotion of safe behaviour at and around level crossings.
It is built around a range of national events held jointly at various locations in every participating country; focussed on a common message of “Act safely at level crossings!” In addition to regular or permanent activities held throughout the year, many special communication actions have been planned throughout the world: flyers handed out at level crossings, in schools, driving schools, to scouts. Posters will be displayed in railway stations and other central places, the video “Just in time” (funded by the European Commission) will be shown on screens in railway stations and on the internet and there will be special messages broadcast on radio and television as well as at press conferences organised with national and local press.

Finally UIC/ILCAD have been granted the use of the logo of the UN-ECE global Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 as part of many other road safety initiatives using the motto: “Together we can save millions of lives”

DID YOU KNOW?
1. that according to article 18 of the UN-ECE Vienna Convention, rail has priority at the interface with road and that road users and pedestrians have to respect the road signage and stop when requested – regrettably this respect is not always present this rather too often causes accidents.
2. that trains can weigh several hundred tonnes and some in excess of 1000 tonnes and that the distance for a train to be able to stop can be as much as 10 times higher that for a car.
3. that apart from the obvious physical damage caused by a road vehicle crashing into a train at a level crossing, there are also psychological, social and financial consequences including, loss of a family member, post-traumatic effects on the train driver, train passengers, witnesses, victims not forgetting the system disruption and the train and road traffic delays…

You can find detailed information on good practices and educational material designed to highlight the issue of misbehaviour at and around level crossings by consulting the dedicated website www.ilcad.org

From BBC (with video):

Did you know the Vatican has its own train station and railway line?
Well it does and for the first time it has opened, together with the Papal train, to fare paying passengers.
The line was built in the 1930′s but is not used often.
The event marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of Caritas, the Church’s charity aimed at helping the poor.
Duncan Kennedy went on board.

Some info here (in Italian), good pictures here (the one on the post makes part of the set) and a video (also in Italian) from Ferrovie dello Stato.

In a word: Amtrak is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

From Fast Lane:

On May 1, 1971, the National Passenger Rail Corporation–known today as Amtrak–took over most of America’s passenger rail service. Forty years later, Amtrak is still going strong. In 2010, Amtrak carried a record number of passengers, serving nearly 29 million passengers on more than 300 daily trains in 46 states and the District of Columbia. This year, they’re on track to break that record. [...]

… and do not forget to celebrate also the National Train Day, next May 7th!

By the way, TGV is getting older: 30 years have passed since the opening of TGV Sud-Est connecting Paris to Lyon.

A dedicated site has been put online by SNCF to celebrate this big event. Star of the anniversaire is going to be a special TGV train, with a peculiar celebrating livery and renovated interiors to host some spaces for visitors’ experience. Yes, in fact this show-train is going to start a tour covering major cities in France and outside (Brussels and Geneve) from April 16th to July 14th.

TGV is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an exciting tour of France.

Visit the driver’s cab, enjoy activities and workshops for children and more. The anniversary festivities will take place on a specially reserved platform in each station.

Find more on www.30anstgv.sncf.com and download the brochure (pdf 17MB, in French) dedicated to the event.

At the end of the post, the photo gallery of the event’s launch and the video showing the renovation process of the tour train.

One of the movie I have always appreciated on this topic is Train the Vie (Train of Life): unfortunately not a real story, since this time the plan to escape the Holocaust of a small eastern Europe Jewish village eventually succeeded.
And this time the train, used by the village pretending to deport itself, seems to be the only way to escape Nazi horrors.

January 27 marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era. Every member nation of the U.N. has an obligation to honor the memory of Holocaust victims and develop educational programs as part of an international resolve to help prevent future acts of genocide. The U.N. resolution that created IHRD rejects denial of the Holocaust, and condemns discrimination and violence based on religion or ethnicity.

Train de vie – Bande annonce FR
Caricato da _Caprice_. – Stagioni complete e singoli episodi online

As for last year’s report, I link you the 2011 video of the event.

On Sunday, January 9th, 2011 over 5,000 people took off their pants on subways in 48 cities in 22 countries around the world. In New York, our 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride had over 3,500 participants, spread out over six meeting points and ten subway lines.

More info at Improv Everywhere site for New York event and reports from the other cities joining the ride.

A Flickr gallery here.

You can find more information on the topic at AlpTransit website and www.57km.ch world record portal.

Anyone can follow the achievement as for the AlpTransit news:

The countdown has started: only 1.8 metres to go to a historic breakthrough in the Gotthard! Last Saturday evening at 10.17pm, the tunnelling machine successfully completed its approach to the 127.404km breakthrough position within the eastern tunnel.

The entire breakthrough area is now being secured, and the tunnelling machine prepared for the breakthrough itself. Preparations are also in full swing for the associated celebrations. On Friday, 15th October 2010 at 2pm, the tunnelling machine from Faido will be started up, and will push the last 1.8 metres of rock out in the direction of Sedrun. The miners, together with a small group of people who are involved in the project and guests (including Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger), will be there to witness the main breakthrough to the Sedrun side.

The general public  will be able to follow the crucial Gotthard Base Tunnel breakthrough live, thanks to transmissions on Schweizer Fernsehen (SF), the French-speaking Swiss television company (Radio télévision Suisse, RTS) and the television company in Ticino (Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana RSI).

It is also possible to follow the event at Schweizer Radio DRS.

Technical preparations for the broadcasts started months ago. Two 6.5-kilometres-long glass-fibre cables had to be specially made and laid in the shaft and tunnel at Sedrun. On the day of the Breakthrough, more than 300 personnel of the Swiss Radio & Television Corporation SRG will be in action.

Thalys is refurbishing all of its trains. You can become the lucky owner of a unique seat, lamp or table, a true collector’s item!

Select the item that interests you and use your mouse to bid for it until the bid is closed.

All proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in support of its WASH programme to improve access to safe drinking water.

Here the boutique on eBay for bids and the press release (French).

Today, it’s the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD). The video before is part of the campain to increase awareness that the most of the victims related to railways are… road users! So, please, act safely at level crossing!

Despite all the measures taken to indicate the presence of level crossings and make them safe, too many road users and pedestrians are killed or injured at such crossings each year around the world. Almost all accidents at level crossings are due to road users failing to observe mandatory stop lights, signals and basic traffic safety rules. Contrary to what is generally thought, most accidents involve “regulars”, in particular those living near and/or making regular use of a level-crossing, as familiarity habit makes them less careful or more reckless, which may prove fatal.

In order to reduce these accidents, countries are making efforts to remove level crossings. This is, however, a long-term undertaking because there are still hundreds of thousands of level crossings in the world and removing them involves huge costs and relatively long study and implementation times.

This is why education of road users ans pedestrians remains key and imperative to reduce level crossing accidents.

On 22 June 2010, the rail and road sector in more than 40 countries worldwide are organising together the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) to make people understand that these accidents could be avoided if they obey the traffic rules and are aware of the danger of risky behaviors at level crossings.

The International Level Crossing Awareness Day focuses on educational measures and the promotion of safe behavior at and around level crossings. It is built on existing national events which will be held jointly at various locations in every participating country on 22nd June 2010 and constructed around the common message “Act safely at level crossings!”. In addition to regular or permanent activities held throughout the year, many special communications actions have been planned across the 5 continents: fleyers handed out at level crossings, in schools, driving schools, scouting clubs etc., posters will be displayed in railway stations, on trains and other central places, special messages will be broadcast on radio, television and led screens in railway stations, press conferences will be organised with national and local press.

In addition the European Commission totally financed a video clip showing a bad behavior at a level crossing to aware the public, particularly the road users and pedestrians on the dangers at and around level crossings. This video is avalaible in English and may be used by all ILCAD campaign partners free of charge on internet worldwide, and free of charge in Europe only on tv, cinemas, screens in train stations or aboard trains and on internet and on internet worldwide. All partners in the campaign will upload the video on their own website, sometimes only in English or with the official logo and the motto in their own language.