Rail transport

France and Britain will reopen cross-border travel on Dec. 23 after a snap 48-hour ban to curb the spread of a new coronavirus variant threatened U.K. supply chains.

Much of Europe swiftly banned British travelers and U.K. freight entering their nations after the discovery of a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 in Britain.

The Silk Route train connecting Turkey to China passed through Ankara on Dec. 7.

This new connectivity project called Iron Silk Road or Central Corridor is delivering its first export cargo through railway from Turkey to China, which is a short, safe, economical, and climate-friendly corridor between the Asian and European continents.

The first train carrying export goods from Turkey to China departed from Istanbul on Dec. 4, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

The train "will follow the Trans Caspian East-West Middle Corridor via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, covering 8,693 kms, passing two continents, two seas, five countries and forwarding its freight to China in 12 days," according to the ministry statement.

Athens commuters will be without metro and ISAP electric railway services on Thursday, as workers at the fixed-track transport operator STASY joined a 24-hour strike announced by Greece's umbrella civil servants' union ADEDY, demanding protective measures for employees and mass hirings in the health sector.

Crises tend to reveal what people, groups and organizations are truly made of, and this is especially so with the current health crisis.

The decision announced on Monday by the STASY union of fixed-rail public transport workers to go on a 24-hour strike on Thursday - leaving the Greek capital without metro, ISAP electric railway and tram services - is one such example.

STASY staff join the 24-hour strike

Part of the third metro line will start working by the end of the month. Eight of the stations are now ready and testing of the trains between them have started.

First Turkish-made electric train, with its tests to be conducted on Aug. 30, will start serving before the end of this year, transport and infrastructure minister said on June 15.

Italian-owned railway operator Trainose will on Friday begin operating the thermal cameras it has installed at the two main railway stations in Athens and Thessaloniki as an additional precautionary measure against the spead of coronavirus and for the protection of passengers and staff.

Lines 2 and 3 of the Athens metro will increase the frequency of service as of Tuesday, following a rise in commuter traffic since lockdown measures started being eased last month.