Table of contents for Issue 811 in RAIL

“The unrest around Southern and the ongoing industrial action is enough to make you wince.” Who are the railways run for? I’ve asked this question before and I have a feeling I will be asking this again. The question has been at the forefront of my mind, having waded through Transport for London’s proposals to take control of more trains in the capital, and while watching the latest developments on the troubled Govia Thameslink Railway franchise. For those of us on Twitter, the unrest around Southern and the ongoing industrial action is enough to make you wince. It’s a mess, with claim and counter-claim and 14 days of new strikes announced, including on November 5. That date is significant. East Sussex relies on the railway when Lewes holds its famous…

Transport for London says that if it gains control of the devolved services, it will enhance station staffing levels and integrate its fares and ticketing structures. It also wants to cut delays and improve reliability where possible, as well as integrating the services into TfL’s multi-modal real-time information processes and products. TfL claims it can: prioritise resources leading to better alignment of overall multi-modal transport decision-making; align planning provision with land-use planning (particularly for house building); see a direct return to the local economies from better railways; and invest in local railways, even though they are not the most commercially remunerative, and lever funding from different sources.…

Industrial action at ScotRail over the role of guards on electric services appears to be over, following a lengthy dispute. The RMT has recommended that its members accept a proposal made by ScotRail. Under the deal, conductors will be retained on new trains and will close doors. Drivers will be responsible for opening them. The agreement applies principally to services from Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High, Edinburgh-Glasgow via Shotts, Edinburgh-Dunblane, Glasgow-Stirling, and Dunblane and Alloa and Glasgow to Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk Grahamston. It also applies to existing electric services that are conductor-operated and part of the North Berwick-Carstairs-Glasgow routes. Announcing the deal on September 19, ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Phil Verster said: “I am pleased that we have reached an in-principle agreement with the RMT and ASLEF unions…

“ The quality retail offering at Network Rail stations is driving strong customer traffic. ” DAVID BIGGS Network Rail’s Managing Director of Property analyses NR s Q1 retail sales report. “ Too often, passengers pay high fares yet receive overcrowded, uncomfortable and sometimes downright inadequate service. ” LIANNA ETKIND Public Transport Campaigner at the Campaign for Better Transport explains what the new Consumer Rights Act means for rail passengers. “The North of England’s £300 billion economy faces real opportunities and challenges from Brexit. ” ED COX Director of IPPR North invites the public to suggest names of the North’s “best and brightest”, to advise on Brexit. “ Ensuring we have world class infrastructure is vital to maintaining our competitiveness. ” PHILIP HAMMOND…

Smartphone ticketing is to be trialled on trains in West Yorkshire, with a small test group of West Yorkshire Combined Authority staff using smartphones instead of tickets. Services between Huddersfield and Leeds are being used for the trial, having been selected because both major stations have ticket gates that accept the new technology. The trial includes purchasing and downloading the tickets to the phones, as well as using the phone for validation at the barriers. It will inform work being undertaken by Transport for the North, which has smart ticketing as one of its main goals to boost the region.…

Work on electrification of the Preston-Blackpool North route began on October 3, with some late night and early morning services replaced by buses to enable overnight engineering to take place. The project is due to be completed by May 2018 as part of the £1 billion Northern Programme. As well as installing overhead line equipment, seven miles of track will be replaced along with track layout and signalling improvements. Blackpool North and Kirkham and Wesham stations will be remodelled, with Network Rail claiming that the simplified layouts will allow trains to run more efficiently. A series of weekend closures will also take place in 2017, although dates for these are yet to be confirmed. On Tuesdays to Fridays buses will replace trains until the 0539 departure from Blackpool, while on…

Current Govia Thameslink Railway Chief Operating Officer Dyan Crowther has been appointed as chief executive of HS1 Ltd, replacing Nicola Shaw who left the company in May. Crowther is expected to take up her new position in January. GTR has appointed Nick Brown as Crowther’s replacement. He joins in November and will join the Board of GTR Ltd, and will be a member of the operator’s Executive Team reporting to Chief Executive Charles Horton. Until recently Brown was Managing Director, London Underground and Rail for Transport for London. Speaking about her new role, Crowther (pictured) said of HS1: “Its growth and performance in the last nine years is testament to its success, and I look forward to leading the business and helping continue this success for customers and passengers alike.”…

Voith has completed a two-year project for Angel Trains to replace 200 wheelsets on Class 142 diesel multiple units. Since the start of the programme, the wheelsets have clocked up more than 12 million miles (42,000 miles per day). The new wheelsets incorporate a modified gear unit, axle, axle bearings and axle-end equipment, and Voith cardan shaft. The new final drive is specified to run for a million miles between overhauls, and the cardan shaft for a million miles before replacement is needed.…

Abellio UK completed contracts to buy trains for Greater Anglia from Stadler on October 5. The £600 million-plus deal with the Swiss train builder is part of what is claimed to be the largest ever privately procured order for trains in the UK. Funding was led by Rock Rail and SL Capital Partners, with additional co-investment equity provided by the Greater Manchester and London Pension Fund authorities. It is the first major passenger fleet order for Stadler, which will supply 358 vehicles forming 58 trains for inter-city and regional operations. The trains are due to enter service between spring 2019 and autumn 2020.…

Angel Trains will finance 665 new Aventra vehicles for the Greater Anglia franchise, in an £869 million deal. The order was confirmed on September 30, and forms part of the GA franchise awarded to Abellio on August 10 ( RAIL 807). The new trains will be delivered between January 2019 and September 2020. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will partner with the rolling stock leasing company to fund the trains. Bombardier will build 22 ten-car electric multiple units and 89 five-car EMUs at Derby Litchurch Lane, and has signed a separate deal to provide ongoing maintenance services support for the trains. This will run for seven years and is valued at £83m. “The modernisation of East Anglia’s network is a major boost to the UK rail industry and the economy,”…

The partially collapsed bridge over the Midland Main Line at Barrow upon Soar will re-open in January. Network Rail is rebuilding the Grove Lane bridge, which collapsed on August 1 ( RAIL 807). It will have raised parapets ready for overhead line equipment to be fitted when the MML is electrified. The plans to raise the parapets are being discussed with Leicestershire County Council. The MML re-opened the day after the collapse, and pedestrians were able to start using the bridge three weeks later. Long-term repairs meant motorists have been unable to use it. NR said it has removed around 200 tonnes of debris, installed tie-bars and plates through the bridge, and sprayed its surface with concrete to stabilise it. Longer-term work includes restoring the brick parapet walls.…

Track laying on the route west of Oxford Parkway has been completed, ahead of Chiltern Railways running to the city’s main station from December 12. Network Rail completed the work on September 21, with the final section laid around Peartree and Wolvercote. The route has been rebuilt from a 20mph line to a 100mph railway. Trains began running to Oxford Parkway on October 25 last year ( RAIL 787), and the extension opens this December - later than planned. The project is worth £320 million, with CR providing £130m. It was approved in 2013, having been proposed 11 years earlier. When open, two trains per hour will run from Oxford to London Marylebone, with journey times of around one hour. “The new rail line will bring significant social, economic and…

Great Western Railway intends to have Class 387/1 electric multiple units operating two trains per hour in each direction between Hayes & Harlington and London Paddington from the start of next year. Currently two trains operate in the morning and evening peaks in each direction, using two pairs of ‘387/1s’. GWR Engineering Director Andy Mellors told RAIL that the Greenford branch will be self-contained between West Ealing and Greenford from early January. However, this will require a set of points to be installed near Hayes that will reduce the length of the bi-directional Down direction operation over the Up relief line, to access the bay platform at Hayes & Harlington. This infrastructure work will be completed over Christmas, and a GWR Thames Valley Turbo will be used to operate this…

Govia Thameslink Railway plans to increase the number of Class 700s in traffic to ten, out of the 30 that had arrived in the UK by the end of September. GTR spokesman Roger Perkins also told RAIL it was planned that by the end of the month it would have accepted the 14th 12-car electric multiple unit for traffic on Thameslink duties. He said that seven ‘700s’ were in traffic on any one day, operating 53 services. Explaining why not all were in traffic of those that have been accepted, he said: “We don’t use all the trains we have because some are used for driver training and others for ETCS [European Train Control Systems]. We’ll continue to steadily introduce the trains as they come online.” Of the 30 trains…

The first East Midlands Trains two-car Class 158 to undergo a refresh is at Wabtec Rail’s Brush Traction Loughborough facility. The diesel multiple unit (158783) is receiving an internal refresh that includes fitting USB ports as well as additional luggage space. The DMU was the first to be refurbished internally in the previous scheme, when EMT controversially removed a number of tables and reduced luggage space due to a Department for Transport order. The ‘158s’ are used by EMT on its long-distance routes, principally Norwich-Liverpool, but they do also visit Skegness and Crewe. They are based at Nottingham Eastcroft. There are 26 Class 158s in the EMT fleet, although one (158889) is on hire from South West Trains until the end of the EMT franchise in 2018.…

DB Cargo has told RAIL it will hire shunting locomotives should it require them in the future, having decided to sell the 23 Class 08s and one Class 09 that it owns ( RAIL 810). DB put its remaining shunters up for sale on September 18, including eight that were still in traffic, with expressions of interest to be made by October 5. “As all businesses do, we review and refine our assets to meet the needs of our customers and help align our costs and structure to the market environment,” DB spokesman Anna Simmons explained to RAIL . “The fleet of Class 08 and Class 09 shunting locomotives is over 50 years old, and our recently revised requirement has fallen to such a low number that it is no…

All 27 four-car Class 387/2s are in traffic with Gatwick Express, with Govia Thameslink Railway confirming their introduction on September 27. They have replaced Class 442s, which have now been removed from the GatEx route. GTR Engineering Director Gerry McFadden said: “They replace 30-year-old rolling stock that wasn’t really suited to the airport market. The ‘387s’ have two double doors per carriage so passengers can get on and off quicker and more easily, more luggage space, and they accelerate faster.”…

Direct Rail Services 37038 has been released from LORAM UK following an extensive rebuild, having been out of traffic for more than two and a half years. The locomotive was stored at the end of January 2014, and had been selected (along with 37069) for investigation into a possible re-engining programme that never materialised. Both ‘37/0s’ were moved to Brush Traction Loughborough for assessment, and when the project was cancelled they were moved to Barrow Hill for storage. 37038 was released from Derby on September 23, and underwent test runs before running to Crewe Gresty Bridge. Direct Rail Services has five active ‘37/0s’ (37038/059/069,37218/259), while 37194 is stored having donated parts to other DRS ‘37s’ at Derby, and is destined for scrap.…

HS2 will employ more people than any other infrastructure project in the UK by 2020, according to an independent report by Albion Economics. The report, published by High Speed Rail Industry Leaders, analysed the contracts already issued by HS2 Ltd and the programme going forward, both at HS2 Ltd and in the wider supply chain. Of the 26,650 people, it is suggested that two-thirds will be in construction and the rest in design and management roles. Around 14,400 of those jobs will be created by contracts that are already out to tender. And encouraging new people to join the industry, many of these roles will be apprenticeships. On Phase 1 of HS2, it is expected that there would be between 5,000 and 9,000 apprenticeships offered - making it one of…

“Forecasts suggest an additional 1,700 jobs could be created by Night Tube, with an output of £80m per year.” On August 19/20 2016, a transport revolution happened literally overnight in London. For the first time in its history, parts of the London Underground ran around the clock on a Friday and Saturday. It means the city is now one of a very select number of global counterparts, including New York, Chicago, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin and Sydney, in offering such a metro service, and Night Tube is set to be expanded further. The need for faster public transport than the capital’s wide-ranging Night Bus network has been apparent for many years as the night-time economy expands and workers are forced by ever-increasing rents to move further out from Central London. But…

Population challenge London’s tube and rail network is busier than ever and, with the population set to grow another 15% to ten million by 2030, the challenge is growing, too. Constrained capacity, due to the age of much of London’s infrastructure, limits economic growth and creates issues for passengers - giving clear economic and political drivers for network improvements. Advances in technology offer a pathway to create additional capacity and improve reliability to meet the challenge of increased ridership. Significant progress TfL’s investments over recent decades have greatly increased the Tube’s capacity and reliability. Signalling upgrades on the Victoria, Northern and Jubilee lines are being followed by work on the sub-surface lines, the so-called 4LM (Four Lines Modernisation) programme. The Siemens’ train control systems introduced on the Victoria Line, for…

Normally, train operating companies are desperate to lure passengers onto their trains, but in the summer, TfL released a new and slightly unusual version of the Underground map encouraging passengers to do the exact opposite. The new map shows people how many steps it takes to walk between stations in zones 1 and 2, with the idea that they can see how easy it is to walk rather than taking the Tube everywhere. With increasing numbers of people counting steps in an aid to lead a healthier lifestyle, TfL also wants to help London commuters to do exactly that. It is the first official version of a map in the world to show the number of walking steps between stations. London Mayor Sadiq Khan says the map will help busy…

New National Conditions of Carriage came in on October 1, the date from when the Consumer Rights Act applied to rail travel. Now renamed ‘National Conditions of Travel’, they can be downloaded from www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/46427.aspx. The new version has been entirely rewritten using less jargon, and is generally clearer than before. There are several areas where there have been relaxations to aid simplification. For example, a really beneficial change is that the old rule allowing holders of Rover tickets to travel into or out of an area without the train stopping, provided they have a ticket to/from the boundary, has been modified. Since British Rail days it had been permitted only with Rovers of at least seven consecutive days or a 3-in-7 flexi-Rover. Now it’s also allowed with a one-day version…

Philip Haigh “DfT cannot afford mistakes with such a high-profile franchise a second time. It must calculate what it wants a new operator to deliver. And it must decide how long-distance services will change when HS2’s first phase opens.” Paul Bigland “I bounce on to Pontypridd. Every time I come back it’s changed, and mostly for the better. But the new footbridge? I’m not convinced. On the downside, it’s monstrous. If it was an athlete you’d have it drug-tested.” Paul Clifton “The train creaked and groaned its way over loose-fitting sleepers and track bolts that appear held together by rust. Buddleia roots stretch through oil-streaked ballast that hasn’t been cleaned for decades.“…

In its notes to Board members, Transport for London explained that under a concession model TfL pays the operator a set fee to deliver the specified level of service. A performance regime enables the operator to earn bonuses for performance over a particular benchmark. There are deductions if targets are not met. Fare income is retained by TfL, rather than the system used by the Department for Transport where it is retained by the operator. This places the risk for any drop in passenger numbers with TfL. However, TfL said that because it is part of the Greater London Authority family, and with its capital reserves, it is able to manage that risk and plan services accordingly.…

“We have a major programme of urban regeneration in which we welcome investment from abroad.” CHRIS GRAYLING Secretary of State for Transport speaks at a G7 Transport Ministers’ Summit in Japan. “Station Place will reinstate stations as the focal point at the heart of the community they serve.” PAUL BEATTY-POWNALL Director at bpr architects helps launch the RDG’s vision for stations of the future. “Britain’s stations have great potential not only as transport hubs but as places for local economies to flourish.” PAUL PLUMMER Chief Executive at the Rail Delivery Group launches the RDG’s Vision for Stations “Over a few short years, we’ll be moving from one of the oldest fleets in the country to one of the newest.” GERRY MCFADDEN GTR…

Passenger Operator of the Year Winner: London Overground Railway Operations Limited (LOROL). Highly commended: Chiltern Railways. Civil Engineering Achievement of the Year Winner: Kier Infrastructure - Chelsea River Bridge Repair. Freight & Logistic Achievement of the Year Winner: AV Dawson - Teesside Distribution Centre. Highly commended: VTG Rail UK/Hope Construction Materials - Cement: The lifeblood of the UK construction industry. Innovation of the Year Winner: AMCO Rail - Soot Scabbling Machine. Highly commended: Network Rail/London Underground - Introduction of under sleeper pads for UK railway. Highly commended: Network Rail GWRM Wales - Innovative drilling for overhead line electrification in Severn Tunnel. Outstanding Personal Contribution (Frontline) Winner: Andre Xavier -Commercial Guard, Bournemouth (South West Trains). Highly commended: Kim Cinavas - Ticket advisor (East Midlands Trains). Highly commended: Bramwell Bines - Driver…

GOVERNMENT needs to press ahead with High Speed 2, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling told his party conference in Birmingham on October 2. Speaking at his first party conference since being appointed SoS by Prime Minister Theresa May in July, Grayling said that in March a strategy document will be published detailing plans regarding maximising growth from HS2, how journey times will be reduced, and how connectivity with local and regional trains will be improved. Construction of HS2 should start next year once Royal Assent is granted - this is expected in early 2017. The process for ordering trains also begins next year, ahead of the opening of Phase 1 between London and Birmingham due in 2026. Grayling (pictured) praised his party’s schemes to build transport schemes that…

Govia Thameslink Railway has offered a lump sum of £2,000 to each conductor, to settle the dispute. The money would be payable on completion of the introduction of a new role of On Board Supervisor next January. The offer is in addition to an existing deal that has been on the table for two months. It includes guaranteed jobs until 2021, above-inflation pay rises, and guaranteed overtime for those who want it. GTR gave the RMT a deadline of October 6 (after RAIL went to press) to accept the deal, or at least agree to put it to conductors in a ballot. That would mean suspending the series of 14 days of strikes. GTR’s letter to the union stated: “These proposals are dependent upon agreement that services with a second…

Prime Minister Theresa May said the Government was “not sitting on its heels” over Southern Railway’s poor performance. In her first comments on the subject since becoming PM, May told BBC South Today: “Money has been made available to deal with some of the issues that have been causing delays on Southern Rail.” She was referring to a £20 million fund to improve performance, much of it for Network Rail to fix infrastructure and signalling failings. “We are very clear about our expectations in terms of the improvements that are necessary,” she said. “But we are also funding work that can reduce some of the delays. There are obviously a number of different issues affecting Southern Rail.”…

Long-held ambitions for a Community Rail Partnership (CRP) for the Trans-Wilts Railway between Westbury and Swindon were confirmed by Rail Minister Paul Maynard on September 29. Great Western Railway (GWR) will work with the CRP - which comprises local organisations, train operators, Wiltshire Council, rail users and other groups - to develop and improve services and facilities on the 32-mile route. Chippenham and Melksham stations will also come under the CRP’s remit. “I am delighted that the TransWilts route between Westbury and Swindon is being recognised in this way,” said GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood. “Community rail provides some of our fastest-growing and most reliable services, and customer growth on our TransWilts services has been exceptional. “Building on the six new TransWilts services launched in December 2013, we were very…

Network Rail has been fined £4 million for breaches of health and safety law, following a fatality at Gipsy Lane pedestrian level crossing near Needham Market on August 24 2011. The sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court on September 21 follows an investigation by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) into the death of 82-year-old Olive McFarland, who was struck by a London-Norwich train. The investigation found that NR had failed to act on “substantial evidence” that pedestrians had poor visibility when approaching Gipsy Lane crossing, and were exposed to an increased risk of being struck by a train. NR had pleaded guilty at Ipswich Magistrates Court on June 28 2016 to a breach of Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was…

THE first production Class 385 has arrived in the UK. The four-car electric multiple unit was offloaded from its ship at Teesport in mid-September, before being moved by road to Newton Aycliffe. It had been transported by sea in a five-week journey from Kasado, Japan. The EMU (385102) has not been fitted with interiors, and will be used for testing before it is moved to Scotland, where further testing and commissioning will be carried out. Transport Scotland has ordered 70 of the trains, with 46 three-car Class 385/0s and 24 four-car Class 385/1s to be delivered. Six EMUs are being built by Hitachi in Kasado, with the remaining 64 assembled in Newton Aycliffe. ScotRail spokesman Clare Todd said that 385102 will undergo months of dynamic testing, after which a comprehensive…

Like-for-like sales at Network Rail-managed stations for the first quarter of the 2016-17 financial year (April-June) increased by 4.4%. This was more than eight times greater than the British Retail Consortium results for the same period (0.5%), according to NR, and the 17th successive quarter there has been an increase. NR said the increase was driven by three key growth areas. It said year-on-year gift purchases rose by 43.6%, which suggests stations are becoming a destination for ‘gifts on the go’. Technology sales grew 20.6%, and accessories by 10.2%. Retail sales results released on September 28 show that 204 million people passed through NR-managed stations between April and June this year. Of that total, 64 million visited NR station retailers. Food and beverage outlets are proving increasingly popular, with sales…

ARRIVA’S CrossCountry franchise has been extended until October 2019 by the Department for Transport. The deal was announced on September 29. Arriva will pay Government a £163 million premium to operate the franchise from now through to the end of the deal. Arriva took over XC from Virgin in 2007. The deal had been due to end in March 2016, but in March 2013 a 43-month extension was confirmed. No new trains will be added to the fleet, but the Government has announced 39,000 more seats per year along the Edinburgh-Plymouth route. This equates to 148.5 seats per weekday, if there are no increases at weekends. That’s the equivalent of fewer than two Mk 3 Standard Open coaches fitted with disabled toilets. The increase is expected to come via reconfigured…

CALEDONIAN Sleeper’s Class 73/9s are to undergo modifications to their alternators. The work will be carried out by Wabtec Rail at its Brush Traction Loughborough site, with 73971 the first to be treated. This locomotive has yet to enter traffic with CS following its rebuild from 73207. It was expected to be released in mid-October (after this issue of RAIL went to press). Currently the locomotives cannot be operated at full power because of excessive vibration. This affects the performance of the re-engined Type 3s, and is forcing CS to use Class 66/7s. Both the ‘73/9s’ and Class 66s are supplied by GB Railfreight, which is contracted to provide crew and traction to CS. All three Highland routes operated by CS are using the Class 66/73 pairings. Overnight on September…

SIX more Class 68s have been added to TransPennine Express’ requirements, taking to 19 the number of ‘68s’ to which the operator will have access. In May, when TPE confirmed it was ordering 13 rakes of Mk 5s from Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), it was confirmed that 13 Class 68s would be supplied by Direct Rail Services. That number has now been increased to 19, and comes as TPE prepares to take delivery of a rake of Mk 3 coaches from Abellio Greater Anglia. The former Virgin Trains ‘Pretendolino’ rake of stock will be overhauled before being put into use. It had been leased by AGA as cover for its own Mk 3s undergoing refurbishment. It was planned to hand it back to Porterbrook earlier this year, but…

DRS reinstates ‘20s’ Direct Rail Services 20303/305/308/312 have been reinstated for use on railhead treatment trains (RHTTs). The locomotives have all undergone repairs at Barrow Hill and will be used in Yorkshire this autumn. GWR ‘387’ testing Great Western Railway 387137 was delivered to Bletchley on September 26 for commissioning. The ‘387/1’ was built by Bombardier at Derby Litchurch Lane and is the last of the initial batch of eight. ‘319/2s’ to Allerton Former Govia Thameslink Railway 319218/219 ran empty from Wolverton Works to Allerton on September 21. Both will be leased by Northern. NVR gala to host ‘46’ Class 46 D182 (46045) has been added to the Nene Valley Railway diesel gala line-up on October 14-16.…

Abellio Greater Anglia has extended the deal to hire two Class 68s and three Mk 2s from Direct Rail Services. The deal was due to finish at the end of September, but they will now remain with AGA until the end of December. The vehicles are hired to cover for 170204, which was damaged in a level crossing accident near Thetford on April 10. The locomotive-hauled set is paid for by Network Rail. The ‘170’ is expected to be released into traffic in the spring. The Mk 2s are Riviera Trains-owned vehicles hired by DRS. LIVERY CHANGES…

A seventh Direct Rail Services Class 68 has been used by Abellio Greater Anglia since the locomotives began working for the passenger operator on July 11. DRS 68022 Resolution made its debut with AGA on September 19, powering the 0730 Great Yarmouth-Norwich. It was operating in top and tail mode with 68024 Centaur, which had hauled the 0652 Norwich-Great Yarmouth. Resolution replaced 68004 Rapid, which had been working the train for more than a week. Other Class 68s used by AGA have been 68009/016/019/023. They were initially hired until the end of September to cover for unavailable diesel multiple units, but that work has now been extended until the end of the year.…

DB Cargo has fitted 90029 with driver reminder appliance (DRA), so that it can be hired to Virgin Trains East Coast. VTEC plans to hire one DB ‘90’ to haul London King’s Cross-Newark Northgate trains. This will enable the operator to carry out planned maintenance on its High Speed Train and Class 91 fleets. DB will fit the equipment to four ‘90s’ that will be made available to VTEC. Also already fitted is 90036 Driver Jack Mills, which has begun driver training ahead of the class entering traffic this December. This means 90029 can replace 90036 if required. Also fitted with DRA is DB 90034, which is hired to Abellio Greater Anglia. This is not thought to be available to VTEC. DB owns 24 Class 90s, and on September 26…

• William Barter is right to remind High Speed UK (RAIL 808) that we have not yet fully answered the challenges he raised in RAIL 803. However, our priority in RAIL 805 was to address the many misunderstandings in his article as to how a national inter-city rail network should efficiently operate. Now is the time to respond to the challenges. HSUK’s timetabling is based upon our comprehensive route design of over 1,000km of new railway, supplemented by data from the Network Rail Sectional Appendix. This defines the geography and the speed capability of the HSUK network. Journey times are calculated by a bespoke Excel spreadsheet which has been validated against published HS2 journey times. The HSUK ‘demonstrator timetable’ establishes three crucial outcomes: • Journey times on 528 journeys between…

 The Government’s attempt at a strategy for rail freight is a very weak document that lacks any sense of vision about the future for land transport in Britain. “The use of bi-mode traction looks an altogether more attractive financial proposition.” Freight operators have suffered a significant loss of traffic as a result of the decision in the energy market to remove coal-fired power stations as a source of electricity generation, despite this coming at a high cost to large users such as the steel industry, where tariffs are making production uncompetitive. There is also a large increase in the number of fuel-poor households, where an unseen green levy to pay for wind farms and other renewable systems has made bills significantly higher. A comparable vision for transport would be to…

“Too often decisions have been made on the basis of what the immediate impact will be on that year’s profit and loss account, rather than what might be good for the railway and its passengers in the long term.” I have long been critical of the railway’s tardiness in adapting to new technology. Sure, a couple of more adventurous operators have enabled mobile ticketing and the London suburban companies have adopted Oyster card, but only after they extracted large amounts of money out of Transport for London. There has been a distinct lack of enthusiasm, and the complexity of having a couple of dozen operators across the network makes innovation difficult. The system mitigates against risk-taking and long-term planning. Nothing illustrates this more than the fact that the railway still…

“BR’s engineers faced great challenges in developing bogies that rode well and did not transmit excessively damaging forces down into the track. Computers helped, but they were a shadow of what’s available to rolling stock designers today.” OCTOBER 4 marked the 40th anniversary of British Rail introducing High Speed Trains into everyday service, between Paddington and Bristol/South Wales. Over those four decades, the HST has become Britain’s most successful train. It’s become an icon for speed and style, and it’s set to remain in service for a good few years yet. On that October day back in 1976, the first 125mph diesel service anywhere in the world operated. It put Britain second in the world for high-speed passenger services, behind Japan. To mark this anniversary, Great Western Railway sent two…

TRANSPORT for London has submitted plans to take over ‘stopping’ trains on several routes around the capital, including several major termini. Long-term, TfL wants to run suburban services, particularly those in south London, to a similar standard to London Underground in terms of service frequency. New trains are also on the wish list, with better braking and acceleration to meet the required frequencies. These would be fitted with wider doors. TfL wants to introduce its concept of ‘metroisation’ with more consistent stopping patterns, clearer routes and new interchanges. Improvements to junctions, track and signalling would be needed to improve the frequencies. It also wants to work closely with Network Rail to try to release capacity reserved for non-passenger use, such as freight, during the peak periods. It would try to…

ELECTRIFICATION, remodelling of major stations and train lengthening are suggestions put forward by the Rail Delivery Group as it seeks to enhance the railways in Scotland. Its document Investing in the Future: Choices for Scotland’s Railways 2019 and beyond, published on September 23, discusses ways in which the railway can support the economy north of the border. Various schemes are put forward as methods to meet demand. Routes that could be electrified are from Muirhouse Junction to East Kilbride and Barrhead, to Kilmarnock and Barassie (from Kilmarnock), and the Maryhill Line. In order to provide context for the choices that the Scottish Government and funders can make, it has been assumed that a timetable proposed for March 2019 is delivered as planned. Four key areas are mentioned: East Scotland Capacity,…

NETWORK Rail enjoyed a successful night at RAIL’s National Rail Awards on September 22, heading the roll call of winners at the ‘Railway Oscars’. London Overground, East Midlands Trains and South West Trains also featured prominently at the event, held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel - the 17th year the awards have been held. The infrastructure owner secured accolades for Major Station of the Year (Manchester Piccadilly) and for the Safety Award (both on its own and in conjunction with the RMT). And a Special Judges’ Award went to Tom Crosby, a volunteer in NR’s community safety team. Crosby drew the attention of the judges for his work speaking to young people about the dangers of trespassing on the railway, prompted after he was himself almost killed by a live…

No decisions have yet been made regarding how Network Rail will raise £1.8 billion of funding from the sale of non-core assets. NR Chairman Sir Peter Hendy made the recommendations in his review published in November 2015. At the time he suggested £2.5bn could be raised through various means, including the sale of assets, with this money used to fund schemes in Control Period 5 (which ends on March 31 2019). Almost a year on, however, no sales have been decided upon. NR spokesman Dan Donovan told RAIL : “The assets being considered are commercial estate (including railway arches), freight estate, light maintenance depots, car parks (mainly non-station), and roadside advertising.” He said the assets being assessed for sale would be those that would not affect NR’s day-to-day operations. “At…

Labour will “take back control of our railways”, Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald told the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on September 25. McDonald said passengers, not profit, should be at the heart of Britain’s railway, telling delegates: “What we have now is a government clinging to a failed model for purely ideological reasons, and passengers and taxpayers are being made to pay an ever-increasing price. “We are clear about this. We’ll put an end to Britain’s rip-off railways. So as private contracts expire, the routes will return to public ownership so profits can be re-invested to improve services and hold fares down. Let us have the same confidence as other countries like the Netherlands, Germany and France.” McDonald said the UK’s transport networks should form a genuinely integrated, high-quality,…

THE RMT union is set to start a further 14 days of strike action on Southern Railway, in its long-running dispute over the role of conductors. The action will be spread over the next three months. Conductors have been offered a £2,000 lump sum to settle the dispute and agree to new contracts, but a deadline for the RMT to accept the offer passed after this issue of RAIL went to press. There have been nine days of strikes since April. On each occasion between 40% and 50% of Southern trains have been unable to operate. Few trains have run before 0700 or after 1800, with none at all on some routes including west of Chichester to Southampton. Southern is the largest brand of Britain’s biggest rail franchise - Govia…

More than 1,000 passengers have donated money to fund a legal case against the Government’s handling of the Southern Railway franchise. The Association of British Commuters (ABC) says it has reached its £25,000 target to apply for a Judicial Review of the franchise contract. The group, which operates the @SouthernFail account on Twitter, held what it called its “biggest protest yet” at Victoria station on September 29. It argues that the situation can only be resolved by the disclosure of documents that have not been released by the Department for Transport. Without them, it claims, it would be impossible to determine whether Govia Thameslink Railway has been in breach of its contract. Lawyers acting for the group have written to the DfT requesting the documents. Those documents not made available…

THE 40th anniversary of the introduction of 125mph trains in the UK was marked by Great Western Railway and the 125 Group at the National Railway Museum in York on October 2, and again on October 4. The latter date was the official anniversary of the introduction of services using High Speed Trains. To mark the occasion, GWR repainted 43185 Great Western into InterCity ‘Swallow’ livery, which was first applied to the HST power cars in 1988. It was joined by GWR 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange, which was unveiled in the ‘Flying Banana’ livery at St Philips Marsh in May. “The introduction of the HST greatly improved the economies of the towns and cities that it served and made commuting from large distances possible,” said Andrew McLean, Head Curator…

A record low in the amount of coal moved has contributed to another drop in freight carried by rail, according to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The total volume of freight moved in the first quarter of 2016-17 (April-June) was 4.2 billion net tonne kilometres, an 8.4% decrease on Q1 2015-16. Coal was down 61.4% to 0.25bn net tonne kilometres - a new record low for any quarter. However, domestic intermodal recorded its highest amount for any quarter since the start of the quarterly series in Q1 1998-99, with 1.69bn net tonne kilometres carried. Overall it accounted for 40.2% of total freight moved, the largest proportion of any commodity. It was followed by construction (25.3%). ORR put the reasons for possible change down to the…

Projects such as HS2 represent huge opportunities for global markets, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said on a trip to Japan at the end of September. Grayling was attending the G7 Transport Ministers’ Summit in Karuizawa, Nagano. While in Japan he met representatives from companies doing business in the UK, and sought to allay fears regarding Brexit and the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. “Next year we start building HS2 - a new high speed rail network linking eight of ten of our biggest cities,” he said. “The Crossrail project is currently Europe’s largest construction project. When it’s complete in two years’ time we will have a new, high-capacity railway under London’s streets. “We have a major programme of urban regeneration in which we welcome investment…

Three new non-executive directors have been appointed to the board of the Office of Rail and Road. David Franks, Anne Heal and Graham Mather have been appointed by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling. All three have experience working in transport, the rail industry and network regulation. Franks has been chief executive of Irish Rail since February 2013, and has worked in the industry for more than 40 years, while Heal’s career includes senior positions at companies including BT. Mather is currently chairman of the European Policy Forum’s Regulatory Best Practice Group. He is also a non-executive member of the board of Ofcom and was previously a member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. All three took up their positions on October 1. The appointments are for five years.…

Railfuture says that Network Rail plans for a dive-under at Werrington Junction (north of Peterborough) should be paused, to allow costings for all plans for the proposed Strategic Rail Freight Network around the city to be costed against re-opening the March-Spalding line. Although Railfuture supports the plans, which will enable East Coast Main Line (ECML) trains to pass over the Peterborough-Spalding line, it points out that southbound trains using the Up slow line from east of Peterborough will still have to cross the fast lines to join the East Anglian Main Line. It says that to “maximise and future-proof” the track layout at Peterborough, a link should be forged from the Up slow to the dive-under line. It also says that if the proposed modal freight yard at Peterborough uses…

EASTERN Ashington: Network Rail has placed a price tag of £195 million on the re-opening of the Blyth & Tyne route to passengers. Cramlington: Northumberland County Council is to investigate the feasibility of relocating the station 300 yards closer to the town and next to the main shopping area. Newcastle: Redevelopment of the Forth Yards area close to the southern approach to Central station went before the city council for planning approval on September 19. The land was once predominantly in railway use, and some tracks survive in civil engineer’s use. Richmond: The Grade 2-listed station, closed to passengers in 1969 and now a community centre, was targeted by thieves on September 22. They stole one and a half tonnes of lead from the roof. Sunderland: The Port of Sunderland…

Class 387/1s will enter traffic between London King’s Cross and Cambridge in October. They will be the first air-conditioned trains used on the Great Northern line. The four-car electric multiple units have been made available following the introduction of Class 700s on Govia Thameslink Railway’s Thameslink network. GTR Engineering Director Gerry McFadden said: “On Great Northern the ‘387/1s’, which have already proved themselves on Thameslink, will replace our Class 317 and ‘321s’ that are 35 and 28 years old respectively. “These are the first of three modern trains we’re bringing onto Great Northern where, over a few short years, we’ll be moving from one of the oldest fleets in the country to one of the newest.” By the end of September, GTR had transferred 387104/106/110/114/119/120 to GN, with three more…

Direct Rail Services 37407 will be named Blackpool Tower when it is released into traffic. The Class 37/4 will be the second of two locomotives rebuilt by LORAM UK that will be used by DRS. Both 37407 and 37424 were bought from preservation in March 2015, and each has had more than £1 million spent on a full overhaul that has involved the locomotives being stripped back to bare metal and being completely rebuilt. First to be released will be 37424. This has been repainted into large logo blue and was moved from LORAM’s Derby facility to Crewe Gresty Bridge to be named Avro Vulcan XH558 at the July 23 open day (RAIL 806). It has since returned to LORAM’s workshop to be completed, and will go on hire to…

GWR green for ‘158’ The second Great Western Railway Class 158 to undergo internal refurbishment is 158957. The work is being carried out by Arriva Train Care at Bristol Barton, Hill and involves fitting a fully accessible toilet to meet the 2020 deadline, as well as Passenger Information Systems. It will also be repainted into GWR green Traction motor for ‘37’ Pioneer Class 37 D6700 is undergoing a traction motor replacement at UK Rail Leasing’s Leicester depot. The ‘37’ is owned by the National Railway Museum. ‘365’ for refurbishment The final Govia Thameslink Railway Class 365 to move to Ilford Works for internal refurbishment (365518) has been removed from traffic and moved to the Essex site. New ‘387s’ with GWR Great Western Railway 387134 and 387136 have been delivered to…

The first two c2c Class 387/3s are due to move to East Ham on October 17. Bombardier has so far delivered 387301 to Bletchley for commissioning, and it is due to be joined by a second ‘387’. It is planned that they will enter traffic in early November. The four-car electric multiple units were ordered by Porterbrook speculatively last year, and six were subsequently leased by c2c. c2c spokesman Chris Atkinson said the EMUs will enter service every couple of weeks, with all six in traffic by early December. He said the operator will be altering its timetable in January to get the most from the ‘387s’, with details to be released soon.…

AGREEMENT has been reached between the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) and the Class 504 Preservation Society (C504PS) to secure the future of the sole-surviving Class 504 electric multiple unit (504451). The train was threatened with scrapping less than 12 months ago. The two-car unit, consisting of power car M65451 and trailer car M77172, was originally preserved in August 1991 following closure of the Bury to Manchester line for conversion into the first phase of the Metrolink tram system. However, despite some limited use on the ELR during the early 1990s, the unit has spent almost 20 years out of use at Buckley Wells in an increasingly derelict condition. In autumn 2015, ELR General Manager Andy Morris said that following a review of rolling stock stored on the railway, attempts to…

More than 30 Class 377/1s will transfer from Southern to Southeastern in the coming months, to increase capacity for the latter operator. They will be replaced at Southern by an influx of Class 377/5s that will transfer from Thameslink (TL). Both TL and Southern are part of the overall Govia Thameslink Railway operations. Southeastern (SET) wanted the Class 377/1s for their 3+2 seating, which fits with other examples of its fleet. SET already operates Class 375 and ‘376’ Electrostars, but these will be the first ‘377s’ used by the operator. Meanwhile, the 23 Class 377/5s will finally move to the operator (Southern) that acquired them in 2009 before they were sub-leased by the Department for Transport to the TL operations. At the time First Capital Connect operated TL routes, but…

“Grayling is no fan of Europe and could well look towards taking advantage of Britain’s departure to change the way the railways work.” POPULIST headlines characterise Britain’s trains as late. But look beyond this and it’s the Department for Transport that’s running late. Take East Anglia’s franchise. DfT said in May that it would be awarded in June. But bidders and passengers had to wait until August to discover that Abellio had beaten off First and National Express. The same franchise schedule that named May as East Anglia’s announcement showed that the Invitation to Tender for South Western’s franchise would be that same month. The date on the cover of the ITT when it was eventually published was July. That May schedule has three franchise competitions running in 2017, with…

A history of reservations It is unfair to state that British Rail would have controlled overcrowding by hiking fares to keep people off trains, as the reservation-only railway was around in BR’s day. I recall that most summer Saturday InterCity services to the South West in the 1970s (and even into the early 1980s) had seat regulation. Basically, as well as purchasing your ‘turn up and go’ ticket you also had to be in possession of a seat regulation ticket for the train on which you intended to travel. No seat regulation ticket for the train meant you couldn’t travel on it. Such trains were shown with an ‘R’ symbol in the Passenger Timetable of the time, in which it was stated “Train or ship in which reservation is compulsory…

We don’t just want to be known as a technical supplier, but also for giving passengers the best experience when using this mode of transport.BERTRAND DELPIERRE, Product Director, Alstom Drawing on more than a century of experience, Alstom can proudly boast to have supplied rolling stock and infrastructure to urban metro networks right around the globe. From newer systems in the emergent cities of the late 20th century including Singapore and Dubai, right through to the world’s oldest networks in New York, Paris and London, Alstom products are used in a quarter of the world’s metro systems. And it’s not just rolling stock, but trackwork and signalling equipment. The company’s Metropolis train sets have now been sold to 22 cities, equating to 5,000 cars carrying over a billion passengers each…

Earlier this year, Transport for London started a competition to search for London’s most iconic transport designs, under the title ‘Transported by Design’. As well as being one of the most famous maps in the world, the London Underground map has long been recognised for its great design. Beating its way to number 3 of 100 design candidates, Harry Beck’s original Tube map is right up there with the best (closely followed by the impressive Baker Street station, and only beaten by the Black cab and roundel designer Frank Pick).…

I took a couple of rail journeys in Hungary last month, and it was noticeable how difficult it is to get on the trains. As is common on the Continent, platforms are low - generally one has to climb up a couple of vertical steps to get on board. Even where there were flash new commuter trains, wheelchair users would need a ramp. The designers of HS2 are required to avoid this problem under EU rules (even with Brexit, compliance is still likely to be demanded under any future agreement). But there is a problem - because the wheels need to be bigger to prevent overheating, it is expected that the floor height of the trains (as yet not specified) will have to be 1,200mm above rail height. According to…

The Waterside Line is a woefully underused resource. At best, one short container train a day creeps to Marchwood. And until this month, two trains a week crawled to Fawley refinery. The track is in good condition - at least as far as the refinery gate. Beyond that, the decades of slow decline are obvious. Much of the sprawling site looks unused and unloved. Lumps of rusting metal lie smothered in buddleia as nature attempts to reclaim what was once inter-tidal marshland. A couple of hundred metres away, the country’s largest refinery provides work for 1,800 people. Exxon needs neither the land nor the railhead. But this has to be one of the most secure sites on the South Coast, so the high fences and CCTV cameras are staying where…