Tabla de contenidos para Issue 1011 en RAIL

rail@bauermedia.co.uk @RAIL WE’VE seen Rishi Sunak donning the hi-vis on the campaign trail and even experiencing an overnight Sleeper train to Devon, just a few weeks after Keir Starmer appeared in hi-vis at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe plant to launch his party’s plan for rail. Orange, it seems, is the new red, white and blue. But it’s not all kissing babies, appearing in hard hats, or serving up fish and chips. A General Election does focus the mind, giving us some hope that our future leaders are genuinely trying to make our lives better. The bad news is that change takes time, and there will be more widespread disruption while it all happens. Just remember that any big decision about our railways taken in 2024 might not return real benefits until…

Unanswered questions about the now-defunct draft Rail Reform Bill will need to be addressed by the new government, says the Transport Select Committee. Although the TSC completed evidence-gathering before the dissolution of Parliament on May 30, it was not able to complete its formal inquiry. The draft Bill would have implemented some of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail’s intentions, including statutory provision for an Integrated Rail Body (IRB) which will become Great British Railways (GBR). This would have been a “guiding mind” that will integrate the infrastructure management functions of Network Rail and the franchising powers currently held by the Transport Secretary. Labour says that if elected, it would continue with the creation of GBR and bring current National Rail Contracts back into the public sector as they expire. This…

More trains and extra capacity are the aspirations for passenger train operators with the new National Rail Timetable that came into effect on June 2. Great Western Railway says it has targeted delivering more trains where it says they are needed most. Two early evening weekday services between London Paddington and Bristol Parkway has enabled the operator to reintroduce two fast services between London Paddington and South Wales - the first time they have appeared on the timetable since 2020. The services will not be stopping at Reading or Swindon. GWR has also doubled capacity on its Plymouth to London Paddington service. Managing Director Mark Hopwood said: “We are continuing to work closely with our industry partners to improve performance and capacity so that we can deliver the services our…

HS2 Ltd has announced Mark Wild OBE as its new chief executive. It ends a year-long search following the resignation of Mark Thurston. Wild takes over during a pivotal period for the project, as HS2 looks to reform its processes and control soaring costs. Previously chief executive at Crossrail, Wild was instrumental in turning round the project in its construction phase, curbing costs, and overseeing its opening (as the Elizabeth line) in 2022. Before his four years at Crossrail, Wild served as managing director at London Underground and at the transport authority for the Australian state, Victoria. HS2 executive chair Sir Jon Thompson, who was part of the recruitment board, said: “Mark joins HS2 Ltd with unrivalled experience and a track record of successful delivery, giving confidence that he will…

Less than 20% of journeys on Northern services were made using orange ‘magstripe’ tickets in 2023-24, with the number down 12% from 20.3 million in 2022-23 to 18 million. Over the same period, use of digital tickets rose from 54.8 million to 65.2 million. Northern notes that magstripe tickets are made of more than one material, so are not readily recyclable. However, it is increasingly offering actual ‘paper’ tickets for customers who prefer a physical proof of purchase.…

Nearly 7,500 food parcels including daily essentials have been delivered to Ukrainian railway workers and their families, paid for by donations from British rail companies. Ukrainian railway employees have been widely praised for keeping trains running, despite Russia frequently targeting public transport infrastructure and supply chains. The railway is central to the country’s humanitarian and war effort. A total of £106,000 was raised at an event last September organised by industry trade body Rail Partners, together with passenger and freight operators. The money went to the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force, which includes support from American, Norwegian and Swedish rail companies. Estimates vary for the number of rail workers killed during the war. In May, the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force said 1,460 workers had been wounded and 560 killed.…

Commuters in south-east London face a two-month closure of a key route south of the River Thames, with a lack of dedicated replacement bus services across a mile-long gap. On June 1, Network Rail began the £10 million overhaul of Blackheath Tunnel, which connects the routes from Dartford to Cannon Street and Charing Cross, both via the junction at Charlton. Southeastern services diverted from the tunnel have to take the route via Greenwich until August 11. There have long been concerns about the condition of the 1849 tunnel, which has suffered damage to its brickwork from the freezing and thawing of rainwater, causing track damage and the imposition of speed restrictions. As well as brick replacement and drainage, NR is installing a concrete liner to stop leakage. New track has…

THE Department for Transport “achieved very little” in reforming the structure of the rail industry, according to the Public Accounts Committee. The cross-party Parliamentary group said that the responsibilities of Great British Railways remained unclear, criticising the Department for its “lack of urgency and progress” in the six years since it identified the need for reform. Its report found that “no one in government is putting the needs of passengers and taxpayers first” and concluded that: “While the Department is fully aware of what is important to passengers, it has not delivered on the basic things that matter most.” The PAC had “yet to see convincing evidence that this reform programme will turn out to be any different” from other rail reviews over the last two decades. The report was…

THE latest safety review by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch has revealed that during 2023, RAIB was notified of incidents 433 times - well over one per day. Accident investigators made 49 safety recommendations to 53 different organisations across the industry, covering infrastructure, train operators, manufacturers and authorities. RAIB found six recurring themes in the pattern of accidents. Most are hardy perennials: the safety of trackworkers; the safety of people getting on and off trains; wheel adhesion (‘leaves on the line’); crumbling infrastructure; and trains going too fast. But it also highlighted “corporate memory”, referring to “wrong side failures” of signalling as a result of undetected wiring errors which result in train drivers facing an inaccurate signal. There were incidents at Waterloo, Dalwhinnie and South Wingfield. RAIB said these followed…

HITACHI, Angel Trains and Transpennine Express have begun testing of the UK’s first inter-city battery train. The battery, which generates a peak power of more than 700kW (938hp), has been successfully retrofitted onto a TPE Class 802 Nova 1 train (802207). It has replaced the diesel engine in the centre Motor Standard vehicle (833207), with the other two MS vehicles retaining their MTU 12V 1600 R80L diesel engines- effectively making the unit a tri-mode train. Hitachi said it is “not looking to develop a tri-mode unit, but is planning to develop a BMMU [bi-mode multiple unit] with batteries and 25kV capability”. Having undergone static testing, the unit is now moving on to two months of dynamic testing before entering traffic later in the summer. It will be tested on the…

Harry Needle Railroad Company took delivery on May 28 of the three Class 37s it recently acquired from Direct Rail Services, with Locomotive Services Limited’s 37409 Loch Awe taking 37419/422 to Barrow Hill and 37716 to Worksop. With 37407 already collected by Europhoenix, and returned to traffic, it leaves just 37424/425 to be collected. However their proposed sale to Meteor Power has fallen through. In such instances the locomotives are offered to the second highest bidder, and HNRC has now confirmed it has acquired them.…

Pathfinder Railtours has announced a series of four trains that will run during the second half of 2024 using ex-BR heritage traction. On Wednesday August 14, Class 52 D1015 Western Champion will run from Tame Bridge Parkway to Weymouth via Cheltenham Spa, Swindon, Basingstoke, Bournemouth and Poole. This train will be operated by GB Railfreight. There are also two tours planned with the Class 40 Preservation Society’s D345. On October 19, D345 runs from Burton and will cover the Hope Valley Line, the South Yorkshire Joint Line to Doncaster, and the Monk Bretton Branch. A West Coast Railways (WCR) Class 37 is also involved on this day out. On November 30, D345 heads from Dorridge to Chester via Oxford, Swindon, Gloucester and the Welsh Marches route to Shrewsbury, Wrexham and…

GB Railfreight has named two more locomotives in its fleet after railway staff who died in the past year. Recently reactivated 66309 was named Charley Wallace at Edinburgh Waverley on May 24, while dedicated Caledonian Sleeper locomotive 73970 was named WS Sellar at Bo’ness the same day Charley Wallace was Great British Railways Transition Team’s customer programme director, while William Stuart Sellar was a career railwayman and one of the founders of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society. His son Stuart works for GBRf. The name was previously carried by 37175. The day after the namings, both locomotives were guests at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway’s diesel gala, working alongside 37403 Isle of Mull and 27001. ■ On May 31, GBRf named 73128 Kent & East Sussex Railway. The locomotive was…

Network Contributions for by far the UK’s most published column by the same author - now in its 43rd year - are most welcome from all sources. Personal observations, society magazines, website printouts and live links, transport group newsletters and media cuttings (with dates, please) are sought to maintain topicality. Please email your contributions direct to hj@howardjohnston.co.uk, or rail@bauermedia.co.uk WESTERN Barnstaple: Public consultation on the proposed station upgrades opened on May 22. Key features of the plan include an upgraded bus stop directly outside the main entrance, and road improvements to allow pedestrians to avoid traffic. Bridgwater: The Railway Heritage Trust has awarded a £4,000 grant for traditional design doors to be fitted to the new community room in the Grade 2 Listed Brunel station building. Castle Cary: The station’s…

Opinion AND so that’s it. If the polls are to be believed, there will be change, perhaps total upheaval, of the rail system after 14 years of Conservative rule when the new government starts work on July 5. Fittingly, the postscript of the recent troubled period on the railways was a strong admonishment from a House of Commons committee on the government’s delay to its long-promised restructuring of the industry. But first, let’s go down memory lane and consider where we were in 2010 when the Conservative-led coalition came to power. Work on Crossrail had already started. And there was a commitment to build HS2, which had been resisted by Labour transport secretaries such as the late Alistair Darling, before finally being given the go-ahead by Lord Adonis (the last…

On January 14 2020, amid speculation on the future of High Speed 2, Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines sent a letter to the Department for Transport. In it, he highlighted that each of the East Coast, West Coast and Midland Main Lines were essentially full, and that upgrades would provide rapidly diminishing returns in capacity, would be increasingly disruptive over multiple decades, and would not get close to the capacity release realised by the new north-south high speed line. In unintentionally prophetic terms, Haines pointed out that there would be “significant” disruption if funds for HS2 were “re-allocated” to other projects. Three years later, in the Prime Minister’s speech at his party conference, HS2 was curtailed to a London to Birmingham shuttle and replaced by a short list of…

Some final thoughts from the team at RAIL @RAIL Send contributions to: mike.wright@bauermedia.co.uk Thirty students from Fairfield High School for Girls in Droylsden (Greater Manchester) had the chance to quiz Northern staff about career opportunities in the rail industry, during a visit to a train maintenance facility. The girls, who are all studying science as part of their GCSEs, visited Newton Heath TrainCare Centre in Manchester. They were taken on a tour of the facility by Northern’s performance improvement specialist Tom Power, and met the engineers who maintain Northern’s Class 150, ‘156’ and ‘195’ trains. Then came a question-and-answer session with Northern and Community Rail Network staff. Topics discussed included career opportunities in the rail industry, travel confidence, sustainable travel and how barriers to travel can be overcome. The visit…

ALMOST a year after arriving in the UK, Rail Operations Group’s new Stadler tri-mode locomotive 93001 finally undertook its first main line solo run on May 28, from Worksop to Sheffield and back. It undertook two return runs, and repeated them the following day. Then on May 30/31 it did the same trips, but this time with a seven-coach load formed of Eastern Rail Services Mk 2/3 vehicles. The last run had the extra weight of 37601 Perseus on the back. Three driver trainers are carrying out the tests. Stadler will analyse the information received from these trial trips and make any necessary software tweaks before the locomotive moves onto the next stage of testing. That will be on the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Carlisle, at 100mph…

AVANTI West Coast put its first Class 805 Hitachi AT300 bi-mode multiple units (BMMUs) into passenger traffic on June 2, the first day of the new National Rail Timetable. AWC has branded the new trains as Evero, with 805009 working the first train to London (the 1037 Crewe-Euston, which had previously been the 1014 from Chester). Moments earlier, 805001/004 had left on the 1036 Crewe-Holyhead. Avanti said six Class 805 sets should be in use daily on Mondays to Fridays. Some turns will feature pairs of the five-car BMMUs, while some will run as five-cars west of Chester before doubling up to run as ten-car sets to Euston. Other trains will run via Birmingham New Street, while one Sunday train runs to Wrexham. Eventually, ‘805s’ will also work to Blackpool…

East West Railway Company has put back the start of its Statutory Consultation programme, to comply with pre-election guidelines. It has also postponed two Community Conversations events in Bletchley and Marston Moreteyne, which were intended to give local people more information about the Development Consent Order (DCO) process. EWR will connect Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes and Bedford. A DCO is needed for works between Oxford and Bedford to upgrade and refurbish the existing railway infrastructure, and for construction of a new railway from Bedford to Cambridge.…

Great Western Railway is inviting companies to bid to overhaul the bogies on its sole-operational Class 230 fast-charge battery-electric unit, which is set to undergo trials on the West Ealing-Greenford branch. The Class 230 was created by the now defunct Vivarail by rebuilding London Underground D78 Stock. As part of this project, there is also a requirement for the overhaul of a float of bogies. The procurement may also extend to the provision of special tools and other spares.…

A study will examine how a private electricity system along the HS1 route through Kent could connect to the National Grid and power thousands of homes and businesses. The viability study is led by HS1 and the University of Kent, and will involve electricity company SSE, National Grid, Kent County Council, the Department for Transport, and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. It will assess distribution of locally produced ‘clean’ energy, using a cable within the railway boundary. HS1 Ltd has a 30-year concession to own, operate and maintain the line between St Pancras and the Channel Tunnel - the UK’s only operational high-speed railway. Kathy Kotiadis, professor of management science at the University of Kent, said: “This could be a game-changer for electricity resilience in the region.…

A “do not travel” alert was issued by Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express on May 29, after a freight train derailed on the West Coast Main Line between Carlisle and Oxenholme Lake District. The incident occurred at Shap Fell, as the train (part of a service destined for Margam steelworks in South Wales) was leaving nearby Hardendale Quarry. Two DB Cargo wagons carrying limestone derailed. The travel alert was extended into the following day, with many services affected. Recovery proved difficult, as this section of the track consists of only two tracks. It also has limited access, meaning that for recovery vehicles to reach the accident area, the line needed to be closed.…

East West Railway Company has named David Hughes as chief executive officer. He took up his post on June 3, joining from consultancy Arup, where he was major programmes director. EWR said Hughes has “a long track record in developing and delivering the biggest transport programmes in the UK”. His past roles include Director General responsible for Rail Infrastructure at the Department for Transport, Programme Director at Transport for the North, and Investment Planning Director at Transport for London. He replaces Beth West, who has moved on after two years as CEO.…

Rail reform will deliver for England, but challenges remain for Scotland, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop told a Transport Select Committee hearing into the draft rail reform bill on May 22. “The reality of the rail reform bill is that it has the potential to make things more difficult for Scotland and would in fact damage the devolution that we currently have,” she told MPs. “In its current form, it will deliver for England and will be a step forward for them. But it will leave us isolated.” Under the bill, an Integrated Rail Board (IRB) will have responsibilities stretching across Britain, including Scotland, with its regulatory powers sitting in Westminster. This will leave the Scottish Parliament with no powers to hold the IRB to account, an issue…

The Clacton Express Preservation Group (CEPG) has returned two vehicles from AM9 electric multiple unit 309624 to Essex for the first time in almost two decades, with their transfer to the East Anglian Railway Museum (EARM). The third coach has moved to the Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway. On May 16, the coaches were moved from Isfield to Chappel & Wakes Colne, with the CEPG declaring: “This completes our group’s original aim of saving the set and returning it to the region. “BDTC [Battery Driving Trailer Composite] 75965 and MBS [Motor Brake Standard] 61928, which form a representative pair, have been donated to the EARM, securing the vehicles’ long-term future. In time, both will undergo full cosmetic restorations, alongside developing interactive displays and exhibits throughout the vehicles. “The CEPG will…

Four Mk 1 coaches owned by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society were moved from the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway to Barrow Hill on May 29, for repairs and to be fitted with Central Door Locking (CDL). 37403 moved 35185, 3112, 1859 and 4832 as the 1159 Bo’ness Junction Exchange Sidings-Barrow Hill LIP, crewed by Locomotive Services Limited. CDL is now a requirement for all Mk 1/2 hinged door coaching stock to run on the national network. The SRPS, which owns 15 Mk 1 coaches, has been fitting its coaches to allow them to return to the main line either in late 2024 or for the 2025 season.…

The latest Class 458/4 to be returned to South Western Railway is 458427, which was taken to Bournemouth depot by GB Railfreight 57303 on May 29 after its refurbishment and reduction to a four-car set by Alstom at Widnes. It is the 17th of the fleet to be refurbished after 458401/404/405/407/413/415-417/420-426/428. It leaves 458502/503/506/508-512/514/518/519/529/530 to be refurbished and reduced to four-cars. Five-car 458531-536 will then be left untreated. They are due to return to Porterbrook for reuse or disposal.…

PRIVATE train operating company Hanson & Hall has started running its sole locomotive, 50008 Thunderer, on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in a drive to lower its emissions. The locomotive made its first run with a tank half-filled with HVO and half-filled with normal diesel on May 24, when it ran light from Yorkshire to Eastleigh via Kidderminster, before working a charter train to King’s Lynn the following day. HVO can be used on its own or in a mixture with normal diesel, with no modifications required to use it. If HVO is unavailable, an operator can simply revert to filling up with standard diesel fuel. It is more expensive but produces lower emissions of harmful particulates. Hanson & Hall Managing Director Jason Hall said the plan is now to run…

The Class 507 Preservation Society has hit its £10,000 crowdfunding target less than two weeks after launching its campaign to purchase Merseyrail 507001 from owner Angel Trains for a nominal £1. The campaign reached its original target on May 29, and had raised a further £2,000 by the end of the month. The society is now aiming to raise a further £5,000, to purchase a generator which will help power the electric multiple unit’s on-board systems -including the lights and doors. It plans to move the ‘507’ to the Nant Mawr visitor centre at Tanat Valley Light Railway, where it will be a static exhibit. Society Chairman Robert Hampton said: “The Class 507 trains have served the Liverpool City Region well in their 46 years. Lots of people will have…

IS this the year when Great British Railways (GBR) finally leaves the starting blocks? Will the regions get their money to achieve their aims of a better deal for passengers? Will routes reopen? And will there be more and faster freight? Britain’s voters go to the polls on July 4 to decide who will govern the country for the next five years. While it is obvious that issues such as hospital waiting lists, education and defence are the main battleground for the political parties, how sincere are the politicians on the transport pledges they are making in their manifestos? In truth, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two main parties, and primarily we must judge who can do the best job with what already exists. Rail users…

Network Rail’s abolition is coming, as the headline act of the greatest change to Britain’s railways since privatisation 30 years ago. NR will make way for Great British Railways, the independent rail body (IRB) that features in the draft Rail Reform Bill being examined by the Transport Select Committee. That draft bill is the product of a Department for Transport headed by a Conservative transport secretary, Mark Harper. But there’s also a place for GBR in Labour’s recently announced plans to reform rail. With both major parties in Westminster agreed on the need for an independent guiding mind, the railway seems on course to embrace GBR. But here’s the rub. GBR will be formed from Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which is the current owner and operator of almost all of…

Industry Insider Opinion WEST Coast Main Line services north of Preston were seriously disrupted by a freight train derailment in the late afternoon of May 29, involving a DB Cargo movement at Hardendale Quarry (close to Shap summit). Loaded wagons overran a catch point, blocking the Up line. Although single-line working was instituted using the Down line, which was clear of the obstruction, the incident prompted a ‘do not travel’ warning from both Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express, with most northbound services terminated at Preston (which continued on May 30). The service offered using the single line was limited by its length (between Penrith and Tebay), and by ignoring the opportunity to use electrified intermediate crossovers (although the derailment may have affected the overhead line isolation requirements…

The £1 billion electrification of the North Wales Main Line, one of the flagship policies of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s HS2 Phase 2b cancellation ‘bonus’, is all but dead. The Department for Transport has confirmed that work has yet to start on a business case for the project (the first step before gaining approvals). NWML electrification was one of several schemes set to benefit from Sunak’s cancellation of HS2 Phase 2b (West Midlands to Manchester) in October 2023, with the redistribution of allocated funds to other road and rail projects. Principally to improve Holyhead to Euston services, it would have also improved local services from the North West, with electrification of the 126-mile route between Crewe, Warrington, Chester, Llandudno and Holyhead. At the time, the Welsh Government was dismissive of…

Rail Minister Huw Merriman is to quit as an MP and will not stand at July 4’s General Election. Merriman, who has been MP for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex since May 2015, became an expert on most rail issues during his seven years on the Transport Select Committee, two of them as chair before gaining his ministerial position in October 2022. His final outings as a minister included a trip to Mendip Rail in Somerset on May 16, to view new wagons. He also visited Thamesmead in London to hear about the proposed extension of the Docklands Light Railway.…

The last bridge on the Kettering to Wigston stretch of the Midland Main Line has been demolished, paving the way for installation of overhead wires as part of its electrification programme. Demolition of the Three Arches bridge, which crosses the main line near Market Harborough, took place over the weekend of May 18/19. Eighteen bridges have received upgrade work on the Kettering-Wigston section, as Network Rail continues to work on the wider electrification of the MML. NR plans to rebuild the bridge once the electrification is complete.…

ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan and senior Ukrainian Railways board members will address this year’s Rail Live. With the UK now only weeks away from a General Election, and ASLEF involved in a long-running dispute over driver pay, the union leader’s keynote session is expected to be a ‘must attend’. Meanwhile, in what is expected to be a particularly compelling addition to the programme, the Ukrainians will talk about the challenges facing the railway since Russia invaded their country. UK companies that have offered support to Ukraine will then take part in a panel session hosted by Rail Partners. Other theatre highlights include sessions on safety (with Rail Safety and Standards Board Chief Operating Officer Johnny Schute), recruitment and retention, and engineering lessons from HS2. Now Britain’s premier outdoor rail…

RMT catering members were set to go on strike at Avanti West Coast on June 7 (after this issue of RAIL went to press), because of “imposed rosters that are causing widespread stress and fatigue”. Members are “deeply unhappy about short-notice changes to shift patterns, job cuts and enforced overtime”, leaving them “unable to fulfil or plan family commitments, and attend medical appointments”, said RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch. In a separate dispute, catering staff working for Rail Gourmet on its Eurostar contract held a two-day strike on Wednesday/Thursday May 29/30 over pay. They had previously staged a five-day strike in April in the same dispute. Gateline staff at Northern in the RMT were due to follow up their May 24 strike, with another on Saturday June 8 over “poor…

Hitachi Rail has completed its acquisition of Thales’ Ground Transportation Systems (GTS) business, after a long-drawn-out process of securing regulatory approvals in multiple countries. The deal, worth €1.66 billion (£1.4bn), gives Hitachi Rail a presence in 51 countries. It will mean that the majority of its revenues will come from signalling and systems. Hitachi says its key locations in Japan, Italy, the UK and the US will be “strategically complemented” by GTS’ large centres in Germany, France, Spain and Canada, with 9,000 GTS staff transferring to the new business. Although the purchase was first announced in August 2021, it was reviewed by no fewer than 13 competition authorities. It finally received European Commission clearance in October 2023, but a condition of securing approval was that Hitachi Rail would divest its…

Arriva, which operates Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, the London Overground concession and open access operator Grand Central, has a new owner. Infrastructure investment company I Squared has bought the group from German state-owned Deutsche Bahn for an undisclosed sum. The sale was first announced in October 2023, but completed on June 3, with I Squared saying it was committed to providing “significant long-term capital to support growth and decarbonisation”. Chiltern is currently seeking new or replacement rolling stock, and will operate the first services on East West Rail next year between Oxford and Milton Keynes via Bletchley. CrossCountry is planning to run more and longer services, with 12 additional Voyager trains and refurbishment of the entire fleet. Both operators have contracts that run up to late 2027, while Grand Central’s agreement…

The transformation of Bristol Temple Meads station has reached another milestone, with completion of the main frame for the £23 million new eastern entrance. When complete in 2026, its first use will be to serve the new University of Bristol Campus via an extension of the main subway underneath Platforms 13 and 15. It now only needs glazing and cladding. The project, which has taken two years so far, is ultimately intended to reach the Bristol Temple Quarter, which in 25 years will house small businesses and 10,000 new homes. An estimated 2.5 million passengers a year will use the new station entrance. The main Temple Meads train shed roof has been surrounded in scaffolding for a major overhaul. A backlog of over 1,350 steelwork repairs has cleared, along with…

Several of Porterbrook’s recently acquired fleet of 30 four-car Class 379s have been moved ready for their handover to Thameslink Great Northern. GB Railfreight carried out the moves using its Dellner coupling-fitted Class 47s and ‘57s’. On May 17, 47749 City of Truro took 379017/023 south as the 0844 Worksop Down Yard-Hornsey EMU Depot. Three days later, recently repainted 57306 collected 379006/014 and took them north as the 1340 Hornsey EMUD-Worksop Up Yard. On the same day, 47727 Edinburgh Castle moved 379018/028 back from Doncaster RMT to Worksop. On May 21, it was the turn of 57306 to move 379024/025 and return with 379017/019. The next day, 57303 worked the 1052 Worksop Up Yard-Doncaster RMT hauling 379008/022. On May 24, 57303 took 379003/012 south, returning with 379023/026. Three days later…

FREIGHTLINER continues to push for government support to achieve new rail freight targets. In December 2023, the government set a challenging target to grow volumes of freight moving via rail in Britain by at least 75% by 2050. However, Freightliner believe that further policies will be necessary for this ambitious target to be reached. Policies suggested by the operator include halving track access charges paid by freight operators to run trains on the network, and doubling the modal shift grant that businesses can access to reduce the cost differences between rail and road. It remains to be seen whether Labour will retain the 75% target if it gains power after the July 4 General Election. However, the party has committed to setting a target for rail freight growth, alongside ensuring…

Four Merseyrail stations will have new lifts installed to provide step-free access. The Liverpool Combined Authority will contribute £9.5 million for the work, with the same amount coming from the government’s Access for All scheme. When the lifts are in place at Aigburth, Port Sunlight, Rock Ferry and Walton, 80% of city region stations will have step-free access from pavement to platform. Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has pledged to ensure that every station on the Meryseyrail network is fully accessible by 2030, complementing the sliding step technology that provides level boarding on new Class 777s.…

LOOKING up the word dither in a thesaurus gives several alternatives: faff about, falter, haver, hesitate, oscillate, shillyshally, swither, teeter, vacillate, waver. All splendid words - and all fit to be applied to the Department for Transport for the way it has overseen (or not) the rail network over the past five years. There’s an exception in the way the DfT moved quickly in spring 2020 to secure passenger rail services, as the COVID pandemic struck. But it had no choice, in that the government was telling people to stay at home, so trains became deserted overnight. The alternative would have been to close down services. Who knows how long it might then have taken to restore them, had route and traction knowledge expired. The DfT made the only choice…

“Open Access is fairly ‘Marmite’ within the industry,” explains veteran advocate Ian Yeowart. He founded Grand Central in 1999 and plans to launch two new routes in 2025. “There are people who would rather see a very straightforward clockface timetable, convinced it would attract new customers to the network,” he adds. “There’s no evidence to show that. An operationally led railway is not necessarily a good railway for passengers. They are driven mostly by price, and competition is good for that.” It’s an observation borne out by others in the big concessions. Open Access folk get in the way, soak up capacity, reduce timetable flexibility, and poach passengers… according to those who don’t run them. But these niche markets work. They are popular, packed and profitable, selling seats at competitive…

WELCOME to the RAIL Crossword. In this issue, two successful solvers can follow the progress of The London Underground: 1968-1985, courtesy of Pen and Sword Books (www.pen-and-sword.co.uk). London’s world-renowned underground railway system in the period from 1968 to 1985 was a very different place to what it is in the 2020s. Much of its rolling stock dated from before the Second World War. And with the exception of the new Victoria Line and the isolated Woodford to Hainault shuttle, trains were all two-person operated as the 1970s dawned. Transport photographer Jim Blake recorded most of the system on film before it would change forever, concentrating on the older rolling stock as well as other items of interest that were due for replacement or modernisation, during a period when London Transport…