Railways in Cattala

The rail transport system in Cattala consists of 2,957 km of railway lines, of which 65% is electrified. Most traffic is passenger trains, although there is considerable freight goods traffic between Jennai and the ports of Calora and Celeste.

Maintenance work on all railway lines is managed by Ferrovie Cattala, a state-owned company that owns the railway infrastructure. The majority of passenger trains are operated by Cattala Rail,its subsidiaries and its private affiliates. Goods transport is performed by competing railway companies, including DB Schenker.

Cattala is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Cattala is 77.

Jennai Railair
Jennai Airport Station was opened in 1972 and operated railway services between Jennai Harbour and Celeste's central station three times an hour, with 60 minute journey's between both main cities cutting journey times compared to the congested main roads. However the service was underused and passengers complained about the large number of suburban stations stopped at by the trains; Jennai Station was regarded as a "small town station on a slow line" according to a Ministry of Transport inquiry, commissioned in the 1980s to investigate why there was so little usage of the railway service.

In 1990, the railway station was closed for a major upgrade, and a spur was built connecting it to the InterCity line between Celeste and Jennai Harbour. A dedicated connection between two major cities and the airport was made and regular services increased. The station was extended underground, with two platforms and two tracks created to reduce delay and congestion on the line.

By 2005, the station had seen its passenger numbers rise above 7 million from just 1 million a year six years earlier. The station had reached capacity and required a major expansion to limit congestion and encourage more passengers to stop using cars to travel to the airport. The following year the new government announced its intentions to close the station for six months to build a further two railway tracks and an extra platform to resolve the capacity problem. Controversially, the station was closed and a replacement bus service set up to take passengers to the nearby town of Ovarco, which had become the de facto terminus for the services from Jennai International to the city itself. The upgrade meant new 10-car trains could run on the spur and services could for the first time terminate at the airport station.

Upon the opening of the new station, the Managing Director of Jennai Airport announced that the station was being renamed from "Jennai Airport Station" to "Jennai International", and the new terminal routes on platforms 1 and 3 would be referred to as "Jennai Railair" services. This branding was later rolled out across the line. Despite the recent upgrade and expansion of the railway service, there are already proposals to construct a fourth platform above ground to the north of Terminal Two, for dedicated suburban services and potentially direct services to Calora and the North. In 2013, the replacements for the 1982 train sets were delivered. The Hitachi-built British Rail Class 395 trains travel at considerably higher speeds than the older trains, but not at full speed, and cut journey times from Jennai to just 8 minutes.

InterCity Rail
The InterCity Rail franchise began in 1990, and took over the West Coast Main Line, Transmonte Express and the western stage of the South Coast Main Line, a total length of 598km.

InterCity currently uses Siemens Class 444 Desiro trains, but there are plans to introduce new high speed trains to the line, possibly using CARTERrail's Railjet or more Hitachi Javelins, which are currently in use on the Jennai Railair services.

Transmonte Eastern
The Transmonte Eastern line was created from the Central Line, which was rebranded following the integration of the urban railway network in 1990.They use a British Rail Class 450 trainset, having previously also operated British Rail Class 444's before they were moved to the InterCity routes. Transmonte Eastern is the only main line service not operating Bombardier-developed trains.

Northern Railway
The Northern Railway uses British Rail Class 222 trainsets, developed by Bombardier.

South Coast Main Line
The South Coast Main Line use British Rail Class 377 "Electrostar" sets built by Bombardier Transportation in the UK.

East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line uses British Rail Class 375 sets built by Bombardier Transportation in the UK.