Table of contents for Issue 1004 in RAIL

Comment rail@bauermedia.co.uk @RAIL LOVE them or hate them, open access operators have cemented their place on Britain’s railway since Hull Trains started running in 2000. Curiously, they are both niche and a major threat to contracted train operating companies (TOCs) holding government contracts. Niche because they remain small, but a threat because, according to bodies such as the Department for Transport, they take paths that deny the TOCs (and thus the DfT) income. Thus TOCs usually object to open access bids for paths - normally by saying there’s no room. But that didn’t stop Grand Central following Hull Trains’ lead. GC initially served Sunderland from 2007, before adding West Yorkshire to its operating map with trains to Bradford Interchange from 2010. Lumo came later and now runs limited-stop services between…

On December 7 2023, passengers were disrupted by an overhead line failure in west London. Some 4,000 passengers climbed down from stranded trains onto the tracks. A Great Western Railway service “struck debris” at Ladbroke Grove, with overhead lines hanging beside the train. The incident left four Elizabeth line trains, two Heathrow Express trains and one GWR train stranded for up to four hours, with heating and lighting turned off. Class 345 Elizabeth line trains do not have toilets. Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines was among those stranded on his way home. He commented afterwards: “We failed as a system. Too many individual actors seeing risk from their own perspective meant it was harder than it should have been to get things done whilst maintaining safety.” He said the…

Metrolink plans to renew tracks in Manchester’s city centre this summer, including through Piccadilly Gardens and along London Road. Renewals will also take place on sections of the lines to Altrincham and Bury. Power supplies will also be boosted to allow more services to run, with electrical substations added to the Bury Line, which is also expected to have overhead lines renewed. Funding comes from a £21.4 million grant from the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.…

HS2 has obtained planning permission from Buckinghamshire Council to build its infrastructure maintenance depot at Calvert, close to the site where HS2 and East West Rail cross (RAIL 1003). HS2 says it has cut the size of the depot by 33%, with a smaller and simpler track layout. It claims this will reduce the excavation required. Main works contractor EKFB (a joint venture of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall) will deliver earthworks and landscaping. HS2 has yet to appoint a builder for the depot, which has been designed by WSP and architects Grimshaw and Grant Associates.…

Southern has reprieved its hourly service from Brighton and Portsmouth. It is also doubling the number of trains between Brighton, Worthing and Chichester to four trains per hour, in its new summer timetable shuffle that comes into effect from June 3. Other revisions on the West Coastway route include better connections for intermediate stations between Chichester and Havant, a new later last train from Portsmouth to Chichester, and adjustments to schedules and stopping patterns as requested by schools, parents, and shift workers. While the doubling of services to half-hourly between Brighton and Southampton, and London to Portsmouth Harbour via Gatwick, will be welcomed, some will also lose out. The hourly Southampton to London Victoria service via Horsham has been axed, as has the direct Littlehampton-Bognor Regis service, forcing passengers to…

Murphy to chair IÉ MTR UK Chief Executive Steve Murphy will leave the company at the end of March, after being appointed as the next chairman of Iarnród Éireann. MTR operates the Elizabeth line and has a 30% share of South Western Railway. White joins SYSTRA Engineering consultancy SYSTRA has appointed David White as its health, safety, security and sustainability director. He has worked in the construction and pharmaceutical industries. Amex moves into rail American Express Global Business Travel can now sell British rail tickets, after winning a licence from the Rail Delivery Group.…

London Underground’s Bakerloo Line has been described as being “at risk of failure”, in a damning report that urges the Government and Transport for London to stop putting off a decision on investment in new rolling stock and route works. The Bakerloo’s 1972 Stock is the oldest in use anywhere in the UK and is already 15 years past its life expectancy, says a document produced for the boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark. TfL says it expects to know by the end of March whether the upgrade of the current Bakerloo Line will gain government approval. It also wonders whether there is now any appetite for the south extension that could reach out to Hayes, because the estimated cost has risen threefold to possibly £8 billion. The councils warn that…

Classic lower quadrant semaphore signals in Cornwall have just days left in service, with Network Rail bringing new signalling from Siemens into use on March 11. Here is Par’s 54 signal, which sends trains along the Up Main towards Lostwithiel. NR plans to close the line through Par on March 4 for commissioning work, having closed the line from St Erth to St Austell on February 27. On February 10, GWR 43187 and 43098 power the 1930 Penzance-Plymouth. Par is the oldest of Cornwall’s mechanical signal boxes, dating from 1879. The others are St Erth (opened 1899), Roskear Junction (1895), Truro (1899), Lostwithiel (1893) and Liskeard (1915).…

Great Western Railway 800033 hit a landslide just outside Patchway Old Tunnel (near Bristol) while working February 23’s 1050 Penzance-Cardiff Central, disrupting services until February 25. On the same day, Network Rail was forced to close its line between Rainham and Sittingbourne in Kent, after the side of an embankment fell away. Repair was under way as this issue of RAIL went to press, with NR expected to reopen the line on Monday March 4. GWR was further affected by a fallen tree near Twyford (between Maidenhead and Reading) on February 26 East Midlands Railway 158856 hit a tree near Thetford on February 6. It was heading east with the 1551 Liverpool Lime Street-Norwich. The following day, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch said it had a team of inspectors at…

A mixed reaction greeted Transport for London’s list of new names for its Overground routes, announced on February 14. The rebranding exercise breaks with the Underground’s 19th century tradition of having a geographical theme. It has cost £6.3 million, and it sweeps away many familiar tags. For example, the old Euston-Watford DC or ‘Silverlink’ service is now the Lioness Line, named after the England women’s football team. And the familiar Highbury & Islington-West Croydon East London Line has become the Windrush Line, to honour the area’s first immigrants. Critics say that some of the labels are superficial or politically motivated, that the events they commemorate will be meaningless to future generations, and that further identity changes may need to be made to reflect future events. However, opponents have proved to…

The RMT union staged a ‘day of action’ on February 8, against what it says are cuts to railway maintenance, infrastructure and renewals work. It argues that Network Rail’s planned budget reduction of £1.2 billion over the next five years to track and infrastructure renewals work poses “increased risk to public safety, railway workers, and overall efficiency of the service”. Union activists leafleted more than 20 stations across the country as part of the ‘Rail Cuts Cost Lives’ campaign. A Network Rail spokesman said: “We know there’s going to be lower demand for the specialist track renewal services we offer in the next five years [Control Period 7, 2024-29], as we invest in our infrastructure in other ways, so we’re consulting with our colleagues and trades unions on changes to…

Another five HST power cars have moved to Great Yarmouth carriage sidings, pending moves to Mexico. They are recently retired 43027, owned by Great Western Railway, and Angel Trains’ ex-LNER 43206/238, 43312/319. This leaves 43017/020/024, 43174/190/191 43305/309-311/314/315/317/318/367 still at Ely Papworth sidings. ■ Two of Rail Adventure’s stored Class 43s (43423/467) were collected by 43468/480 from Arlington Fleet Services at Eastleigh on February 21 and moved to Kidderminster.…

The Type One Locomotive Company has acquired 31210/235 on a long-term loan from the Dean Forest Railway. Both moved by road to the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) at Ruddington in early February. The group already owns 31463, which is midway through a thorough overhaul, as well as Class 20 D8098 and Class 47 D1705 Sparrowhawk, both of which are based at the nearby Great Central Railway. Both the ‘20’ and ‘47’ are undergoing heavy maintenance. In a statement, the TOLC said: “We are delighted to announce that the company has made an agreement with the owner of 31210 and 31235 to become custodians of these two locomotives for an initial five-year period. “31210 has been overhauled by its owner and his team and, subject to a bogie swap, is not…

The Great Central Railway has announced visits from the Deltic Preservation Society’s 55009 Alycidon and the A1A Locomotives Limited’s 31108 for its April 26-28 diesel gala. They will line up alongside the GCR’s serviceable fleet - expected to be some or all of 33116, 37714 Cardiff Canton, pioneer Class 37 D6700, Class 45 Peak D123 Leicestershire & Derbyshire Yeomanry, and 50017 Royal Oak. The Class 55 is expected to stay all year and be joined by the society’s D9015 Tulyar and 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier later in the year, the former working its first trains for more than 26 years.…

A further influx of new trains being delivered and accepted into traffic has allowed more older units to be sent for scrap. On February 14, DB Cargo 66142 Maritime Intermodal Three brought three more Merseyrail Class 777s into the country. After their delivery through the Channel Tunnel, the ‘66’ conveyed Polish-built 777037/039/041 as the 0809 Dollands Moor-Wembley. They were then moved to Long Marston for store until they can be delivered to Kirkdale. At Long Marston in mid-February were 777029/037/039/041/043/045. That leaves 777033/035/047/051/053 to arrive from Poland and 777038 from Switzerland. Meanwhile, West Midlands Trains 730003/018/044/048 have all entered traffic with West Midlands Railway, which leaves 730025/026/028/029/034-037/039-043 still in store at Doncaster Belmont and 730023/024/038 at Gascoigne Wood. More Class 730/0s are entering traffic on the Euston-Milton Keynes route (covering…

Opinion Industry Insider THE Government has set a rail freight growth target of 7.5% in the next five years, which increases to 8.3% in Scotland. After that, the Great British Railways Transition Team believes a plan for an increase of 75% is achievable by 2050. This reflects the 4% average annual growth that has taken place in the maritime and domestic intermodal market. The growth target represents a significant breakthrough after the cutbacks that took place in the years leading up to privatisation, when many Freightliner terminals that did not cater for maritime traffic were closed and network services provided by Speedlink were abandoned, as well as heavy pruning of private sidings. Lower-volume trainload flows were also jettisoned, as it was judged that haulage resources were insufficiently utilised. The emphasis…

NETWORK Rail has started an 18-month recovery plan from “unacceptably poor” performance on its Western route between London Paddington and Reading. It aims to stabilise performance over six months, before then seeing reliability improve. Since the launch of Elizabeth line services, the corridor has become the busiest stretch with overhead line power in the UK. Its falling reliability has made national headlines, with high-profile failures, and has prompted an investigation by the Rail Regulator. “Our performance hasn’t been good enough,” Route Director Marcus Jones told RAIL. “We have been consistently letting down customers. They cannot guarantee a service every day. That is not a position we want to be in.” Jones joined Network Rail last summer, having previously been train service delivery director for MTR Elizabeth line. He said: “Over…

NETWORK Rail will form the basis of Great British Railways and take over responsibility for franchising passenger operators, according to a draft Parliamentary Bill published on February 20. However, with the Bill only a draft for consultation, there is little expectation that it will become a fully-fledged bill for Parliament to debate and pass into law before the next General Election. Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Parliament on February 20 that the draft bill’s publication “sets in motion the plan to deliver a bold vision for future rail customers - of punctual and reliable services, simpler tickets, and a modern and innovative railway that meets the needs of the nation”. He explained: “GBR will have responsibility for infrastructure, operations and oversight of whole industry finance where it is the franchising…

Further closures will affect East Coast Main Line passengers, with Network Rail halting trains between York and Newcastle over March 2-3 and 9-10. NR says it is renewing points and track at Durham and Chesterle-Street. Hourly LNER services will run via the Durham Coast route, but CrossCountry and TransPennine Express services will terminate at York and Newcastle, with buses taking passengers to stations between them. Lumo will run to Newcastle from the north and Northallerton from the south, with a bus in between.…

RAIL passenger numbers could double by 2050, says new research by consultancy Steer for the Railway Industry Association. Steer’s Research on Long-Term Passenger Demand Growth believes that passenger numbers could grow by between 1.6% and 3.0% per annum. The consultancy says it is “confident that under any scenario rail demand in the UK will grow beyond today’s network - growth that government policy, rail services and operators will need to accommodate”. RIA is calling for rail reform and a long-term rail strategy “as soon as possible”, including a plan to increase north-south capacity. It adds that the UK has many opportunities to expand rail travel to improve its economy and connectivity, while bringing social and decarbonisation benefits. “Under the lowest growth scenario, even if the UK government does nothing and…

THE creation of a transformational West Orbital Railway by 2032 has been declared as one of Transport for London’s flagship schemes which also include extensions to the Elizabeth line, the Bakerloo Tube line, Docklands Light Railway, and eventually Crossrail 2. All these projects form part of a detailed policy document submitted to TfL’s investment group on February 28, seeking money to take them all forward at varying paces. The West Orbital line, connecting the Midland Main Line and Hounslow via the HS2 hub at Old Oak Common, seems relatively straightforward, and entails merely the upgrading of two freight-only sections. One is between Brent Cross and Cricklewood, forming a triangle with Dudding Hill Junction and meeting up with the line from Gospel Oak at Acton Wells. The link also requires reactivation…

Global big-hitters are among the bidders for the lucrative new seven-year contract to operate London’s Elizabeth line. The shortlist of four bidders, announced on February 16, includes train and tram operator Keolis, which currently co-manages the adjacent Docklands Light Railway with partner Amey. It is up against GTS Rail Operations (a joint venture between Go-Ahead Holdings and Sumitomo Corporation and Tokyo Metro Company, both based in Japan) and Arriva UK Trains. The fourth bidder is present incumbent MTR Corporation UK, whose current deal expires next year. RAIL’s request for the value of the contract brought a response that the figure is “commercially sensitive”, although the last one was worth £1.4 billion over eight years. Tender documentation will go out in April, with submissions expected in July. Transport for London will…

SHREWSBURY is to lose its direct daily Avanti West Coast service to London from the June timetable change. The decision implements an instruction from the Department for Transport to AWC to create train paths for open access start-up Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway (WSMR). DfT says that AWC’s 0704 Shrewsbury-London Euston (arr 0954) and 1816 Euston-Shrewsbury (arr 2102) currently operate at a £1.4 million annual loss. The withdrawal will affect “an estimated 40-60 people per day who will now need to change trains to make the same journey [on AWC]”, it said. AWC said its existing Shrewsbury trains (which also call at Telford and Wellington) will continue to run from the West Midlands, with the morning train instead starting at Birmingham New Street and the evening train terminating at Wolverhampton.…

Northern’s new depot at Shipley (RAIL 1003) will comprise a maintenance shed with four roads, a carriage washing line, and four stabling sidings with a fifth road for underframe cleaning that is by the CET (toilet) emptying apron. The depot is needed because Network Rail’s Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) will restrict access to Northern’s facilities at Neville Hill (Leeds). NR already owns the site, which sits on the western side of the Shipley-Bradford Forster Square line. All tracks in the depot will be electrified with 25kV overhead line equipment. The maintenance depot tracks will have retractable OLE.…

NEW technology has been commissioned on the East Coast Main Line between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin, bringing digital signalling on the line a step closer. The work was completed on February 17-23 as part of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP). With a view to a ‘no signals’ railway on the southern part of the ECML, the newly dual-signalled section, operated with conventional and digital signalling, will be used to progressively train all ECML operators to drive using European Train Control System (ETCS) through the Welwyn-Hitchin overlay section. Network Rail dubs the latest stage 'W2H Resignalling Lite', explaining that it involved installing Westrace Trackside System equipment, adding three Trackguard Westlock interlockings and making trackside changes at Hatfield, Biggleswade, Hertford and Letchworth as well as renewing train detection kit with…

Five major rail projects in the West Midlands will definitely go ahead, despite the region’s financial worries. But there is no talk of any further schemes. The West Midlands Combined Authority, which represents 17 councils, approved a £1.2 billion budget at its meeting on February 9. This will ensure that the Metro extensions to Brierley Hill (£89 million) and Birmingham Eastside (£22m) are completed, while £35m has been allocated for restoring passenger services on the Camp Hill and Walsall-Wolverhampton routes. Coventry Very Light Rail and zero-emission buses will also be paid for. The future of all these schemes, most of which are already under way, has been secured after West Midlands Mayor Andy Street negotiated a £250m cash injection from the Government’s savings on cancelling the northern leg of HS2…

The Spa Valley Railway is the latest to be targeted for a national network takeover, although it seems a very unlikely possibility at present. East Sussex County Council’s draft Local Transport Plan for 2024-50, currently out for consultation, suggests a number of rail schemes. These include an ‘everyday’ service over the Spa Valley’s preserved Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West line. The draft plan has not identified any funding for its extensive ‘wish list’ of schemes. Removed from the national network in 1985, when BR decided it couldn’t afford track upgrades that were then required, the quiet ‘West’ station was at the time still lit by gas. Tunbridge Wells Central remains the town’s main station, as part of the electrified Hastings line. Eridge, on the Oxted branch, has yet to be…

An event to celebrate 60 years of the BR Swindon Class 14 diesel hydraulic Type 1s at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway now has six confirmed locomotives. The four-day event runs from July 25-28. The latest addition to the line-up is D9553. Based at the Caledonian Railway, since its arrival in Scotland the locomotive has undergone extensive repairs to return it to working order. It hasn’t hauled a passenger train since the late 1990s, when a frost-damaged heat exchanger stopped it. It was then sold on several times, until arriving in Brechin in February 2023. It will line up alongside D9504, D9529, D9551 and residents D9525 and D9537 - with D9525 also working its first trains for many years as well. More details on the 60th anniversary event will be made…

The rare sight of a Freightliner Class 70 working passenger trains will be a highlight at the Severn Valley Railway diesel gala on May 16-19. It is the second confirmed guest locomotive for the four-day event, after Locomotive Service Limited’s 37409 Loch Awe was added to the line-up last month. Two visiting Class 20s are also expected to star. The organisers hope a Freightliner Class 59 and a GB Railfreight locomotive will also attend. They were awaiting confirmation as this issue of RAIL went to press. The gala should also feature the welcome return to traffic of 50033 Glorious, which had been undergoing cab refurbishments. Subject to availability, other locomotives expected to be in action are from the resident fleet - Class 14 D9551, Class 17 Clayton D8568, 20048, 33108,…

GB Railfreight has agreed to hire its sole Class 59 (59003 Yeoman Highlander) to Colas Rail. GBRf acquired the locomotive in 2014 from Heavy Haul Power International in Germany, where it had resided since its export from the UK by Foster Yeoman in 1997. It is now deemed non-standard for the GBRf fleet and few drivers are trained on the locomotive, which only recently returned to traffic after two years awaiting new wheelsets. The only other user of Class 59s is Freightliner, which owns the remaining 14 - four Class 59/0s, four Class 59/1s and six ‘59/2s’.…

The arrival of more Class 777s has freed up older Class 507s to be sent for scrap, with 507013/032 hauled by 37884 Cepheus as the 0611 Birkenhead North EMUD-Newport Docks on February 19. Their disposal brings the Class 507 fleet down to just 19 units. Five days earlier, 37884 had taken the last of Northern’s Class 319s to be despatched for breaking up, when 319379/385 were hauled as the 0758 Allerton Depot-Newport Docks. Further moves include 37510 and 37800 Cassiopeia taking 175114 on the 0954 Holyhead Carriage sidings to Bartonunder-Needwood, with the train top-and-tailed and the unit sandwiched between barrier vehicles. And on February 20, 37800 hauled Transport for Wales Driving Van Trailer 82220 and Mk 4 12215 as the 1158 Crewe CS-Landore.…

ASLEF stepped back from its threat to boycott ScotRail’s ‘Inter7City’ HST fleet following safety mitigations, RAIL can reveal. The train drivers’ union had previously said it would instruct its members “not to touch these trains” from August 20 2023 (the third anniversary of the Carmont rail crash) unless there were “significant improvements” in safety. But the fleet has remained in service without a boycott since then. Now ASLEF Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay has told RAIL it “re-evaluated the boycott based on the amount of work that’s been done which has improved the vegetation management, which has improved the weather management, and which has improved the speed at which the trains run”. Lindsay said the union remained in “continued dialogue” with ScotRail, Transport Scotland and Network Rail over the way forward,…

NETWORK Rail initially called its Reading to Paddington recovery programme “Project Brunel”. Realising that the name was a little over-the-top, it was quietly dropped before publication - although it continues to be used internally. NR has been embarrassed by continued poor performance on one of its flagship routes. The start of Elizabeth line services between Reading and central London should have been a triumph. And Great Western Railway, with its fleet of modern inter-city and suburban trains, should have been a beacon of post-COVID recovery. Instead, there have been national headlines about broken rails, fallen overhead wires, and pictures of disoriented passengers climbing down from stranded trains to walk along the tracks to safety in the middle of winter. On the evening of December 7, commuters spent four hours in…

THE rail freight market value has been worth about £1 billion for some time. What’s hidden within that is the recent diminishment of coal and its replacement with deep-sea boxes (containers). There has been huge growth in the deep-sea market sector. We’ve gone from about 12 trains per day out of Felixstowe to 38. That’s a lot of volume, with societal benefits through taking lorries off the roads. At the other end of that telescope, rail transport accounts (at most) for only 30% of all boxes that are imported or exported through any of the deep-sea ports. That leaves room for much growth. A swing of 1% to 2% towards rail at Felixstowe represents another train. You don’t need it to shift much before you have another two, three, four…

WELCOME to the RAIL Crossword. In this issue, three successful solvers can travel the world with a copy of The Journey Matters: Twentieth-Century Travel in True Style, courtesy of Atlantic Books (atlantic-books.co.uk) What was it really like to take the LNER’s Art Deco Coronation streamliner from King’s Cross to Edinburgh, to cross the Atlantic by the SS Normandie, to fly with Imperial Airways from Southampton to Singapore, to steam from Manhattan to Chicago on board the New York Central’s 20th Century Limited, or to dine and sleep aboard the Graf Zeppelin? In the course of The Journey Matters (hardback, 392 pages, retail price £20), author Jonathan Glancey travels from the early 1930s to the turn of the century on some of what he considers to be the most truly glamorous…

Passengers don’t care which part of the railway is to blame. They just want a service that works. At Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, the service has been deteriorating for more than a year. Great Western Railway says two-thirds of delays are due to the infrastructure, with one-third due to the train operators. Steve Smith (pictured), who represents the Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group, told RAIL: “It’s absolutely appalling. We have the perfect storm here: infrastructure failures, bad weather causing flooding, lack of trains, and train failures.” Off-peak trains to London have been replaced by a shuttle service to Newbury, because GWR’s Hitachi Class 802 IETs have been transferred to other duties. Instead, passengers have a two-car Class 165 Turbo. Smith added. “Only one in three of our Paddington direct trains are…

BRITAIN’S biggest build is the West Midlands’ “biggest opportunity”, said HS2 as it set out the £10 billion economic benefits that the new railway will deliver over the next ten years. “The projected impacts of HS2’s arrival in the West Midlands are startling and represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” it added, pointing out that since HS2 started in 2017, the region has recorded increases of 66% in planning applications, 200% in planned floorspace, 240% in value of planned construction, and 484% in new homes planned. These figures, which only cover the ‘HS2 impact zones’, translate into 41,000 additional homes, 704,000 square metres of new floorspace, and 30,835 new jobs. More than 3,000 planning applications were examined. The analysis excludes planning applications relating to HS2 itself. It means that for the last…

Boring is complete on one of High Speed 2’s twin tunnels under the Chilterns. TBM Florence broke into daylight at the north portal near South Heath (Buckinghamshire) on February 27, after a ten-mile dig. TBM Cecilia continues to dig the second Chiltern tunnel, parallel to Florence’s work. HS2 launched both almost three years ago and expects Cecilia to appear at the northern portal very soon. HS2 Executive Chairman Sir Jon Thompson said the breakthrough was “an incredible day for HS2”, while Rail Minister Huw Merriman said it “highlights the momentum behind the project”. Main works contractor Align is responsible to the Chiltern Tunnels. It’s a joint venture formed of Bouyges, McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick. The TBMs come from Herrenknecht in Germany. HS2 said that more than 450 people have worked on…

A poll of Bedford residents has shown overwhelming support for East West Rail. EWR’s survey of 1,000 people found 75% in favour of the £7 billion scheme to reconnect Oxford with Cambridge via Milton Keynes. And an even higher 83% believe it will improve travel and provide better access to vital public services such as hospitals and schools. However, the Protect Poets Campaign Group, which is trying to save 60 homes from demolition by stopping the plan to six-track the Midland Main Line north of the town, in an area named after locally born The Pilgrim’s Progress author John Bunyan, believes the survey is too small. It says it does not represent the entire local population. Bedford Borough Council, which wants alternative routes to Tempsford on the East Coast Main…

Ten years on from the Dawlish Sea Wall collapse, more needs to be done “to make the network resilient”. Peninsula Transport Chairman Councillor Andrea Davis said efforts to repair and strengthen the critical stretch of track “show what partnership working can achieve”. On February 4 2014, a severe storm in the English Channel breached the wall in more than one location. At one spot, the entire formation and wall were washed away, leaving the track suspended in mid-air. The void also penetrated beyond the railway, undermining an adjoining road and foundations of houses. The Down platform at Dawlish was severely damaged and the ‘inner wall’, higher than the promenade from Dawlish to Dawlish Warren and acting as a safety barrier for the railway, was almost completely demolished. The railway was…

Transport for London wants to have the business case for extending the Elizabeth line in both directions ready by the summer. However, it is unclear whether the government is interested in pursuing the north and south Heathrow Airport links from Langley and Staines, over which the new services would run. The new line from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet also depends upon the desire to unlock major housing and business opportunities in north Kent. Meanwhile, growth on the core route (opened in May 2022) could be absorbed by more and longer trains, increasing service frequencies to 30 trains per hour, plus a new short spur to create a Paddington-Old Oak Common HS2 hub service.…

Network Rail’s £375 million scheme to resignal key areas of the South Western Railway network was completed on February 19. Over the past five years, the Feltham and Wokingham resignalling programme has featured upgrades to signalling equipment and level crossings controlled by the Feltham Area Signalling Centre and Wokingham Signal Box. These jointly cover 80 miles of railway and 500 separate pieces of signalling equipment in key areas of the SWR network -including Feltham, Hounslow, Shepperton, Twickenham, Windsor & Eton Riverside and Wokingham. Network Rail says the old signalling equipment from 1974 was becoming harder to maintain. During the final nine-day closure on February 10-18, engineers installed 43 new signals, upgraded two level crossings at Wokingham station and Easthampstead Road (Star Lane), and renewed a double railway junction at Wokingham.…

A combination of industrial action by ASLEF members and Hitachi staff is starting to bite harder on LNER, with increasing numbers of trains being cancelled. The operator declined to tell RAIL how many trains it is cancelling due to the dispute, but RAIL analysis reveals that for the five weekdays in the last full week of February an average of 11 trains per day were cancelled. This immediately followed four days of disruption due to a planned four-day engineering closure, south of Peterborough. Responding to RAIL’s enquiry, LNER said: “Industrial action has been affecting one of our train service providers. Contingency plans have been enacted by the supplier and we are working with them. We continue to review the potential impact this may have on our services and will do…

HS2 Ltd is inviting POMA SAS and Doppelmayr Cable Car UK Ltd to bid to maintain and operate the new mass transit system at Interchange station in Solihull. The winner of the shortlisted companies will work with HS2 to deliver the Automated People Mover (APM) and maintain its cable system operation for a 25-year period through two contracts. The UK division of Austrian company Doppelmayr Cable Car, a specialist in people mover technology, completed the London Luton Airport Direct Air-to-Rail Transit (Luton DART) system in 2023. Meanwhile, French ropeway transport company POMA SAS specialises in rope-operated systems around the globe. Besides Luton, similar APM systems in use at UK airports are at Birmingham, Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow Terminal 5. HS2’s first contract includes the design, supply, integration, installation, testing and…

THE conversion of shunter 08649 by Meteor Power at Silverstone is close to completion, and it is hoped that the locomotive will be ready to move to the Great Central Railway for testing in March or April. The 1959-built locomotive has had its old English Electric diesel engine removed and replaced by a hybrid power train. Initially, batteries and a small diesel engine were to be fitted, but that was not workable to charge the battery. Now it has a 300kWh battery pack with a 225kW John Deere donkey engine - the latter can be used to move the locomotive in an emergency, but is not used for its main propulsion. The locomotive can be charged from a plug-in. The shunter will retain a top speed of 20mph, but its…

Spot hire company Europhoenix is close to returning to traffic the first of its three recent Class 37 acquisitions from Direct Rail Services (DRS), with 37218 due in use very soon. Meanwhile, work continues on 37423, which is receiving new wheels. It will then also join the fleet, while 37069 should be the last of the trio to be reactivated. The three locomotives will remain in their recently debranded DRS base blue livery until further notice. This is because is their bodywork in good condition, while it also allows the company to repaint them into customer colours if required (37611/800 sport Rail Operations Group livery).…

THE Heritage Electric Trains Trust (HETT) has decided not to restore its three-car Class 503 Wirral lines third-rail 630V DC electric multiple unit, which was designed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1938. HETT says it will only retain the Driving Motor Brake Second car (M28690M) as a restoration project. This will be moved to a new storage site soon. However, both the Driving Trailer M29289M and Centre Trailer Car M29720M are to be disposed of “in the next couple of months”. The unit is at the Locomotive Storage site at Margate. “This decision by the Trustees has not been taken lightly and is based on sound reasoning of the realistic position this unit now finds itself in, and what prospects present themselves for the vehicles’ future,” said…

A return to the main line for sole Class 89 locomotive 89001 is moving closer, with the Brush-designed machine being prepared at Loughborough prior to moving to the Locomotive Services Limited depot at Crewe. The brake frames are being prepared, after which it will be ready to move to Crewe, where it will be able to undergo tests under the 25kV AC overhead wires. A start will then be made on preparing it for main line use. It will still be owned by the AC Locomotive Group and hired by LSL, in a similar arrangement to that existing with Class 40 D213 Andania, 37688 Great Rocks, 47712 Lady Diana Spencer, and 47828. The one-off prototype 125mph Co-Co 25kV AC electric locomotive was a Brush design, but was built by BREL…

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 EASTERN Crews Hill: There are plans to safeguard land around the Hertford Loop station for around 2,000 new homes and to create a new western entrance. Leeds: Network Rail has purchased the formation of the Wortley Curve, which once provided a direct link between Bradford and Wakefield, to safeguard it for medium-term reinstatement. The three-acre strip, which has not carried trains since 1985, sold for £47,000 in auction - three times…

SO, after five years - or the operation of around 36 million train services - the Government has managed to produce a Bill. Well, a draft bill that has as much chance of seeing the light of day as we have of seeing steam locomotives being revived as the main form of traction. Indeed, there is something retro about the Bill, in that it entrenches the power of a state-run organisation (the Integrated Rail Body which may or may not be Great British Railways in disguise) over the industry. This ‘reform’ of the industry was prompted by the timetable chaos of May 2018, which revealed all too clearly that the different parts of the industry - notably the operation of services and the infrastructure - had a dysfunctional relationship which…

WHEN Stuart Baker first published his rail atlas in 1977, he explained that his work was inspired by his “feeling of total bewilderment” over the ‘Llans’ and ‘Abers’ of South Wales. When I look back at this first edition, I’m not so much bewildered as amazed by the sheer number of collieries connected to the rail system. This is true for South Wales (names such as Caerau, Maerdy, Celynen and Hafodrynys), but also for Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, with pits such as Elsecar, Grimethorpe, Blidworth and Annesley. They sat mainly on freight-only lines, which Baker coloured red. Glance at an atlas from today and much of that red is gone. Some have turned black to be counted as passenger lines, including Maesteg, Aberdare and Ebbw Vale in South Wales. For Nottinghamshire…

2 WAYS TO SEND RAIL YOUR VIEWS & OPINIONS WRITE TO US: RAIL, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough Business Park, Peterborough PE2 6EA. EMAIL US: rail@bauermedia.co.uk LNER FARES TRIAL Ditching Off-Peak leaves passengers paying more… or not using rail at all LNER’s scheme to remove Off-Peak tickets, currently being piloted between London and three stations in Scotland and north-east England (RAIL 1002), should not have been allowed and must not be continued. Off-Peak fares are regulated. Failing to offer them forces many people to use the much more expensive Anytime fares, which is an increase way above what has been permitted for regulated fares. Even the new ‘flex’ fares, when available, are often more expensive than the Off-Peak fare. It is a mistake to believe that only business passengers…

Some final thoughts from the team at RAIL @RAIL Send contributions to: mike.wright@bauermedia.co.uk A historic wooden sign from the original Kings Heath station, which closed in the 1940s, has been returned to the site ahead of the station’s anticipated opening. The original Kings Heath station opened as part of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway in 1840. The sign was located on the former signal box, which closed in September 1969, almost three decades after the station itself. Transport for West Midlands has acquired the original sign from the current owner, marking a symbolic step forward in readiness for the return of passenger services to the Camp Hill line. Three stations on the line - Kings Heath, Pineapple Road and Moseley Village - are currently under construction, ready for the long-awaited…