rail

The way we travel could be changed forever following a futuristic rail project with rapid journeys from London to Paris within 20 minutes, and to Amsterdam in a mere 22 minutes

In a glimpse into the future of travel, a journey from London to Paris could take just 21 minutes, thanks to an innovative rail project.

As it stands, the fastest train journey from London to Paris takes two hours and 16 minutes, thanks to the efficient Eurostar which departs from St. Pancras International. However, if a futuristic rail project comes into fruition, the trip could be reduced to 1/6 of its current length, thanks to a hypothetical rail service that’d travel at more than 600mph.

This ultra-high-speed service would be made possible with hyperloop technology, which would involve passenger pods travelling through low-pressure tubes. In addition to the 21-minute journey to Paris, it could also provide transport from London to Brussels in 20 minutes, to Amsterdam in 22 minutes, and Berlin in just over an hour, reports the Telegraph.

READ MORE: Major rule change gets train users a third off rail tickets from SundayREAD MORE: Hundreds of thousands of people to get 1/3 off price of rail tickets – full list

Yet the concept isn’t new and was brought to the spotlight in 2013, when entrepreneur Elon Musk published a white paper on the hyperloop, a proposed transportation system. Musk previously labelled it a ‘fifth mode of transport’, and work has been underway in Europe on making this hypothetical engineering marvel a reality.

The European Hyperloop Center (EHC) in Veendam opened in the Netherlands two years ago, offering a 420-metre hyperloop test tube that runs adjacent to a train track. There have been successful hyperloop tests, and engineers have achieved a “zero-moving-parts lane switch” by enabling the pods to alter their course without mechanical track adjustments.

While it was conducted at 55mph, The Telegraph, which visited the European Hyperloop Center, said it was a “turning point” for hyperloop. The inventive project could revolutionise how we travel and is said to feel like flying rather than boarding a standard train.

The managing director of the Hyperloop Center Veendam, Kees Mark, told the Telegraph: “To think that we could be having coffee in Paris in under an hour from now is a huge mindset shift. It’s more like flying. That’s one of the benefits of hyperloop – there’s no wear from moving parts.”

But there’s a long way to go for the ultra-fast transport, with the project facing major setbacks and a bundle of technical difficulties. It can also present some health and safety concerns.

In 2023, Virgin Hyperloop in the US halted passenger operations amid safety concerns, a complicated regulatory process, and substantial financial difficulties. One of the project’s investors, Richard Branson, withdrew after the company failed to reach its goal of 700mph, achieving only 107mph during the first human trial.

The number of passengers the hyperloop service could carry is another hurdle compared to a standard rail service. Hyperloop pods are designed for low-capacity, high-frequency travel, typically holding 28 to 40 passengers per capsule. However, because they are designed to operate every 30 to 120 seconds, they aim to achieve high hourly throughput despite small cabin sizes. Some designs suggest up to 50 passengers, but smaller, faster-moving pods are generally prioritized for efficiency

At this point, the project is still very much in the experimental stage, and it could be years before the form of transport is introduced for use, but with tests well underway, could this be the new normal?

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

Ensure our latest lifestyle and travel stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

SACRAMENTO — The head of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority took a voluntary leave Tuesday after news reports circulated about his recent arrest on suspicion of domestic battery against a spouse.

Ian Choudri was arrested Feb. 4 at his Folsom home in the 500 block of Borges Court.

The rail authority said in a statement Tuesday that Choudri agreed to take a temporary leave to allow its board of directors and the California State Transportation Agency to review and assess the situation.

Choudri’s attorney said Monday that the Sacramento County district attorney’s office declined to file charges in the case. Police were called to Choudri’s home by a third party, Choudri’s attorney told The Times.

“This matter is over and no further action will be taken,” said Allen Sawyer, who is representing Choudri.

The district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Choudri is among the highest-paid state employees in California, having earned $563,000 last year, according to payroll records obtained by The Times from the state controller’s office.

The High-Speed Rail Authority did not answer a question about whether Choudri would receive pay during his absence.

The board of directors is scheduled to meet next on March 4.

The day before his arrest, Choudri had appeared with Gov. Gavin Newsom in Kern County to announce the completion of a 150-acre facility that would serve as a hub for construction of the high-speed rail project in the San Joaquin Valley.

California’s grand vision for a bullet train, originally to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, has become a flash point in national politics.

President Trump and Republicans have seized on the billions of dollars in cost overruns and slow progress to cast the project as a Democratic boondoggle and waste of taxpayer money.

Newsom, eager to show some advancement before he leaves office, has refocused construction on building a segment from Merced to Bakersfield. His office said earlier this month that 119 miles were under construction and 58 structures, including bridges, overpasses and viaducts, have been completed.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Board of Directors approved Choudri as chief executive in August 2024. Newsom praised the decision and commended his more than 30 years of experience in the transportation sector.

Choudri replaced former CEO Brian Kelly, who retired. Choudri joined the agency from HNTB Corp., an infrastructure design firm where he previously held the position of senior vice president.

Choudri did not respond to requests for comment. Newsom’s office directed questions to the High-Speed Rail Authority.

Ian Choudri, the CEO of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority, was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery earlier this month at his Folsom home, officials said.

The 57-year-old was arrested Feb. 4 on suspicion of battery against a spouse, Sgt. John Triplett of the Folsom police confirmed. The arrest occurred in the 500 block of Borges Court, where records indicate he owns a home.

“The High-Speed Rail Authority is aware of the matter and is reviewing it,” a spokesperson for the agency said Monday in a statement. “We have no other comment at this time.”

Choudri was approved as CEO of the state agency in August 2024, and lauded by Gov. Gavin Newsom as having more than 30 years’ experience in the transportation sector.

Choudri replaced former CEO Brian Kelly, who retired. Choudri joined the agency from HNTB Corp., an infrastructure design firm where he previously held the position of senior vice president.

Choudri did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Choudri’s attorney told The Times that police were called to Choudri’s home by a third-party and that prosecutors did not file charges in the case.

Choudri was set to appear in court Feb. 6 but was notified by the Sacramento district attorney’s office that they had declined to file charges, said Allen Sawyer, Choudri’s attorney.

“This matter is over and no further action will be taken,” Sawyer said.

Officials at the Sacramento district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The day before his arrest, Choudri had appeared with Newsom in Kern County to announce the completion of a 150-acre facility that would serve as a hub for construction of the high-speed rail project in San Joaquin Valley.

“The railhead facility is a critical step in the track-installation process and keeps us on pace to deliver this system smarter, faster and more economically,” Choudri announced at the media event, according to a statement released by Newsom’s office.

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Choudri is among the highest-paid state employees in California, having earned $563,000 last year, according to payroll records obtained by The Times from the state controller’s office.

Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this story.

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s authorities have ratcheted up the messaging and reciprocal threats against the United States during state-organised rallies and celebrations commemorating the Islamic revolution across the country, one month after deadly nationwide protests.

Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” rang out on Wednesday in the state-run annual demonstrations, on a day of immense symbolic significance for the Islamic republic that consolidated its power during the 1979 revolution.

Near Enghelab (Islamic revolution) Square in downtown Tehran, authorities propped up five coffins for some of the top commanders in the US military.

The coffins had the US flag painted on them, and included the names and images of Central Command chief Brad Cooper, Chief of Staff Randy Alan George and others.

This year’s festivities are especially important to the theocratic establishment as they follow the 12-day war with Israel and the US in June, the nationwide protests starting in late December, and in defiance of a potentially looming war with the US.

Threatened with assassination by the US and Israel, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not make an appearance in the events. He also missed a highly symbolic annual meeting with army and air force commanders for the first time in his 36-year rule.

The 86-year-old supreme leader released a video message calling on Iranians to “disappoint the enemy” by participating in the revolution anniversary. All other senior political, military and judicial authorities also released similar messages urging supporters to mobilise.

An 81-year-old private businessman who was arrested and had his assets confiscated for observing a strike during the nationwide protests also wrote in a confession letter released by state media this week that he would participate in the rallies.

The Fars news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), released a video of a “symbol of the devil” being burned during a state-organised event in the capital. The burned effigy appeared to depict a man with horns sitting on a pedestal marked with the US and Israeli flags.

People also burned and trampled on US and Israeli flags, while ballistic and cruise missiles capable of reaching Israel and the wreckage of Israeli drones shot down during last year’s war were displayed.

These are the types of missiles that Tehran has called its own red line, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to corral US President Donald Trump into following the Israeli narrative that Iran’s missile programme, as well as its nuclear one, should be on the negotiating table.

State television flew helicopters over designated areas in Tehran and other cities where demonstrations were being held and described another “epic saga”, using a term favoured by Iranian authorities to talk about the annual demonstrations.

Those attending the rallies were hailed as “the dear people of Islamic Iran” who were marching to bolster the security of the country.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for national unity in the face of external threats while insisting that his government is willing to negotiate over its nuclear programme.

Addressing the crowds in Tehran’s Azadi Square, Pezeshkian called for solidarity among Iranians in the face of “conspiracies from imperial powers”.

Competing chants

Huge fireworks exploding around the iconic Milad Tower on Tuesday night to celebrate the revolution anniversary were so loud that they alarmed some residents and hearkened back to the bombing runs of Israeli fighter jets during the 12-day war.

Translation: I was driving when suddenly there was the sound of an explosion and the sky lit up, I thought only that it was war and that I had to be beside my parents. I lifted my head again and saw that it was fireworks – as if they were shooting into people’s hearts to prove it wasn’t war. It was worse, because the elites were celebrating while we’re in mourning for those fallen [during the protests]. In Tehran and across the country, the authorities called on supporters of the establishment to shout “Allahu Akbar” in the streets and from their homes at 9pm local time on Tuesday night. Numerous videos circulating online show some people shouting those words, only to be met by competing shouts of “Death to the dictator” or cursing from their neighbours.

The authorities also discussed the nationwide protests during Wednesday’s events, and celebrated what they described as a triumph over “enemies”.

Ahmad Vahidi, the deputy head of the IRGC, told a state-organised event in Shiraz that Wednesday’s rallies marked a third “great defeat” for the US and Israel over recent months.

He said the 12-day war was the first one, and the second was the state-organised counterdemonstrations held on January 12, days after most of the protest killings were carried out on the nights of January 8 and 9.

Like Vahidi, police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan called the protests another “sedition” and said they were “a great project by the global arrogance” that was quashed.

The Iranian government claims that 3,117 people lost their lives during the unprecedented protest killings, all of them at the hands of “terrorists” and “rioters” armed and funded from abroad.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed about 7,000 deaths so far and is investigating nearly 12,000 other cases. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran Mai Sato said more than 20,000 civilians may have been killed but information remains limited amid heavy internet filtering by the state.

The UN and international human rights organisations have accused state security forces of being behind the killings. The UN Human Rights Council last month issued a resolution condemning the killings and calling on the Islamic republic to “prevent extrajudicial killing, other forms of arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence” and other actions violating its human rights obligations.

Feb. 7 (UPI) — Several fires damaged Italy’s northern rail line on the first day of the Winter Olympic Games in what investigators are calling acts of sabotage by arsonists.

Local authorities said three separate fires damaged railroad infrastructure and disrupted travel along the Bologna and Venice rail lines, causing travel delays of up to 2.5 hours on Saturday morning.

Rail service to Venice also was disrupted, and another fire was reported along tracks leading to the coastal city of Pesaro.

Italian railway officials ruled out any technical problems or accidents as the cause of the fires and damage and are treating them as deliberate acts of sabotage.

Investigators found an explosive device and severed cables, which officials for Italy’s Ministry of Transport described as “serious sabotage” that is similar to damage done to French rail lines during the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024.

“These actions of unprecedented seriousness do not in any way tarnish Italy’s image in the world, an image that the Games will make even more compelling and positive,” Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and transport minister, told the BBC.

No one has claimed responsibility for the damage that briefly stopped rail service on Bologna’s high-speed line, which was running again by the afternoon.

The rail line is among several that enable spectators to visit various events that are held in an area spanning hundreds of miles in northern Italy’s Alps and Dolomite mountains.

Transportation and anti-terrorism law enforcement teams also are investigating the matter.

NEW YORK — A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore funding to a new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey, ruling just as construction was set to shut down and amid reports that President Trump was withholding the money unless Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer saw to it that Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport were renamed in the president’s honor.

The administration had sought to pressure Schumer (D-N.Y.) to help get the facilities renamed for Trump in exchange for releasing the money to fund the massive infrastructure project, according to the New York Times, citing top administration officials.

The judge’s decision Friday came months after the administration announced it was halting $16 billion in support for the project, citing the then-government shutdown and what a top federal budget official said were concerns about unconstitutional spending around diversity, equity and inclusion principles.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in Manhattan approved a request by New York and New Jersey for a temporary restraining order barring the administration from withholding the funds while the states seek a preliminary injunction that would keep the money flowing while their lawsuit plays out in court.

“The Court is also persuaded that Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiffs have adequately shown that the public interest would be harmed by a delay in a critical infrastructure project.”

The White House and the Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday night.

New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James called the ruling “a critical victory for workers and commuters in New York and New Jersey.”

“I am grateful the court acted quickly to block this senseless funding freeze, which threatened to derail a project our entire region depends on,” James said in a statement. “The Hudson Tunnel Project is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the nation, and we will keep fighting to ensure construction can continue without unnecessary federal interference.”

The panel overseeing the project, the Gateway Development Commission, had said work would stop late Friday afternoon because of the federal funding freeze, resulting in the immediate loss of about 1,000 jobs as well as thousands of additional jobs in the future.

It was not immediately clear when work would resume. In a nighttime statement, the commission said: “As soon as funds are released, we will work quickly to restart site operations and get our workers back on the job.”

The new tunnel is meant to ease strain on an existing one that is more than 110 years old and connects New York and New Jersey for Amtrak and commuter trains, where delays can lead to backups up and down the East Coast.

New York and New Jersey sued over the funding pause this week, as did the Gateway Development Commission, moving to restore the Trump administration’s support.

The suspension was seen as a way for the Trump administration to put pressure on Schumer, whom the White House was blaming for a government shutdown last year. The shutdown was resolved a few weeks later.

Speaking to the media on Air Force One, Trump was asked about reports that he would unfreeze funding for the tunnel project if Schumer would agree to a plan to rename Penn Station in New York and Dulles International Airport in Virginia after the president.

“Chuck Schumer suggested that to me, about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump Station. Dulles airport is really separate,” Trump responded.

Schumer responded on social media: “Absolute lie. He knows it. Everyone knows it. Only one man can restart the project and he can restart it with the snap of his fingers.”

At a hearing in the states’ lawsuit earlier in Manhattan, Shankar Duraiswamy of the New Jersey attorney general’s office told the judge that the states need “urgent relief” because of the harm and costs that will occur if the project is stopped.

“There is literally a massive hole in the earth in North Bergen,” he said, referring to the New Jersey city and claiming that abandoning the sites, even temporarily, “would pose a substantial safety and public health threat.”

Duraiswamy said the problem with shutting down now is that even a short stoppage would cause longer delays because workers would be laid off and go off to other jobs and it would be hard to quickly remobilize if funding becomes available. And, he added, “any long-term suspension of funding could torpedo the project.”

Tara Schwartz, an assistant U.S. attorney arguing for the government, disagreed with the “parade of horribles” described by attorneys for the states.

She said that the states had not even made clear how long the sites could be maintained by the Gateway Development Commission. So the judge asked Duraiswamy, and he said they could maintain the sites for a few weeks and possibly a few months, but that the states would continue to suffer irreparable harm because trains would continue to run late because they rely on an outdated tunnel.

Izaguirre and Collins write for the Associated Press and reported from New York and Hartford, Conn.