Opening this issue is one of the world’s most outstanding services: the award-winning Phelophepa train has been operating since 1994 in South Africa's remote rural areas, bringing healthcare to millions of underprivileged communities.

Our cover article explores some of the ethical and logistical challenges behind the proposal to start gathering personal data from Eurostar passengers, under the infamous PNR directive currently enforced on international flights.

We also catch up with Tokyo’s valiant efforts to bring its railways up to scratch ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games, during which millions of people will descend on its doorstep.

In design, we look back at Moscow’s history of building arguably the world’s most striking railway stations, and profile a brand new technology called Evidentia that uses VR to allow architects to design better public amenities from the very early stages of construction.

Finally, we find out what were the engineering and signalling complications that have stopped the much-lauded Crossrail project in its tracks and delayed its opening.

Read on for all this and ­­­­join the conversation on Twitter.

Eva Grey, editor