Table of contents for Issue 1000 in RAIL

@RAIL WELCOME to the 1,000th issue of RAIL. It’s a privilege to have had your company for 43 years. As we enter 2024, we will be learning more and more about a train-building industry that is wracked with uncertainty, and wondering whether the Government is really behind expanding rail travel. Hopefully, we can all be inspired by the contributions in this special anniversary issue from some of the most learned and experienced industry figures, spanning four decades. We all recognise that large-scale investment is being made, but much of it may sadly be too late to stop the collapse of highly skilled and competent manufacturers. More on this soon. First, the business of the day. The old year was only hours from its close when news broke that Japanese investor…

The Government is capping the 2024 regulated fare increase at 4.9% - compared with the 9% from the July retail price index (RPI) figure on which they are normally based. Also, the new fares come into effect on March 3, rather than January 1. This change will be permanent. Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced the news on December 22, two days after the Scottish Government said it would raise all fares in Scotland by 8.7% from April 1. The same increase applies to Caledonian Sleeper fares (excluding seated tickets), but came in on January 1. The Scottish Government will also extend ScotRail’s pilot to abolish peak fares by three months, until June. Transport Scotland has frozen season tickets and flexi-passes since April 2022. Harper (pictured) said fare rises have been…

West Coast Railways will have to fit central door locking (CDL) to its carriages by February 29, or stop main line operations. The ultimatum comes after WCR’s Judicial Review in the High Court failed to overturn the Office of Rail and Road’s decision to refuse further exemptions to CDL. The company wanted to continue using secondary door bolts operated by stewards. Challenging the ORR’s decision to apply the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 to charter trains, WCR had argued that they were intended for commuter services, and that their extension to charters is a “misinterpretation”. But rejecting WCR’s claim on December 22, Hon Mrs Justice Thornton ruled that the ORR’s “justifiable” approach is “common sense”. WCR Commercial Manager James Shuttleworth said the company will “reflect and consider options” to enable it…

Railway people have been recognised in the 2024 New Year Honours list for their service to the industry and communities. They include Rizwan Javed, an MTR Elizabeth line station assistant at Ealing Broadway. He is awarded an MBE for stopping 29 people at risk of taking their own lives. Also receiving an MBE is Keith Walton, founder of the Severnside Community Rail Partnership, while those receiving an OBE include Edward Album, founder of the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust, and Munir Patel, CEO of XRAIL Group, for services to rail exports. Services for inclusion and diversity are recognised, with Ruth Busby (People and Transformational Director, Great Western Railway and Network Rail Wales and Western) awarded an OBE and Richard Isaac (Community and Sustainability Manager, Northern Trains) a BEM (British Empire…

Not everyone in Ireland is convinced that rail revivals represent value for money. New National Transport Authority Chair Peter Strachan, who also currently sits on the boards of Transport for Wales, Merseyrail, Caledonian Sleeper and the Rail Delivery Group, told the Irish Parliament they were “breathtakingly expensive” compared with buses. “If we look at the revenue per subsidy, fare box or whatever, we see that nowhere in the world have we ever really cracked the question of efficiency or how to run a rail service that is the leanest and meanest it could possibly be. I do not think this country is any different,” said Strachan. “It would be easy to say let’s have world-class transport across the whole of Ireland, but we have to be realistic about competing demands…

Contributions for by far the UK’s most published column by the same author - now in its 43rd year - are most welcome from all sources. Personal observations, society magazines, website printouts and live links, transport group newsletters and media cuttings (with dates, please) are sought to maintain topicality. Please email your contributions direct to hj@howardjohnston.co.uk, or rail@bauermedia.co.uk WESTERN Barnstaple: The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway signal box that once stood at Town station is to be transferred to the narrow-gauge line at Blackmoor Gate. It has been in private ownership since it closed in 1935. Grove: Oxfordshire County Council has passed a resolution supporting a new station to serve nearby Wantage, and will fund an outline business case. Another for reinstating part of the former Witney line has been completed,…

WHATEVER your views on HS2, make no mistake: the decision in October to abandon the project north of Birmingham and switch much of the money saved into road schemes is a massive setback for the rail sector. The plan to halt HS2 announced by the Prime Minister appears to have emanated from No.10 and its policy advisers, rather than the Department for Transport. But it is a Government decision, signed off by the Transport Secretary and the Cabinet. It follows 15 years of cross-party consensus, starting and finishing at the Conservative Party conferences of 2008 and 2023. It’s worth remembering that only two years ago, the Government committed to funding rail investment in the North and Midlands in its Integrated Rail Plan(IRP), to the tune of £96 billion. This provided…

In September 1983, an interesting repaint meant much more than just a new livery, As a High Speed Train set emerged in InterCity colours (issue 27), it essentially marked the dawn of sectorisation, which would progress slowly from 1984 and become the new structure of British Rail from 1987. The new sectors were: ■ InterCity - for all the fast routes of high-speed travel, such as the East Coast, West Coast, Great Western and Great Eastern Main Lines. ■ Provincial - for all the ‘local’ trains and branch line trains, so most of Scotland, the rural lines in Wales, plus the secondary lines. ■ Network SouthEast (from June 1986, issue 59) - for the commuter lines emanating in all directions from London to Northampton, Peterborough, King’s Lynn, Dover, Brighton, Portsmouth,…

Over 43 years and RAIL’s 1,000 issues, the UK rail network has actually expanded - or at least the passenger side has. There have been some closures of routes and stations (more so in RAIL’s early days), but most of those closures were freight-only lines, especially branch lines. In May 1981, the short line from Kinnaber Junction (near Montrose) to Brechin was axed, although half survived to become the Caledonian Railway. The closure which attracted the biggest controversy was the axing of the Woodhead line from Wath to Penistone and on to Hadfield. A non-standard network using 1,500V DC electrification, elderly non-standard Class 76s, and with a line speed of just 65mph, it was always going to lose money as its traffic steadily declined. It was axed on July 20…

TO reach 1,000 issues is a significant milestone by any measure. For RAIL, it’s taken 42 years. Launch came just 13 years after British Rail dropped main line steam traction, and RAIL arrived just in time to witness BR’s withdrawal of its iconic Class 55 locomotives - the ‘Deltics’. They’d had just 20 years of frontline service. But in that time, they had pioneered 100mph operation. If those two decades seem short, then consider the arrival of Class 91 electric locomotives later that same decade. A handful of ‘91s’ remain in East Coast traffic today, and I’m delighted to see current ECML inter-city operator LNER marking RAIL’s anniversary by renumbering 91005 to 91000. Locomotives have been RAIL’s staple, just as they have underpinned interest in railways since railway magazines appeared…

In 2020, the UK’s railways were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadly virus had started in China in late 2019, and slowly spread across the globe. It was in February 2020 that it really started to become a major concern to the UK’s population. Travel by train started to decrease. Then in March 2020, the country was put into the first of two major lockdowns and non-essential travel was banned. Patronage of the railway disappeared virtually overnight, with passenger numbers down by 95%. The timetable was slashed. But conversely, because rail was needed to provide travel for key workers such as nurses and doctors, trains had to keep running. Some ran with few (indeed any) people on them. It was common to see a train with just one person…

On sale January 24 High-speed career Outgoing HS1 Chief Executive Dyan Perry on the challenges facing Britain’s railways - including skills gaps, shifting more travel to trains, and the future of high-speed. PLUS Rail Knowledge How well do you know the railway? Find out next issue with RAIL’s annual S&E quiz. Metro-Land revisited Transport for London now has a property arm… but the idea is not new, as STEFANIE FOSTER explains. Aventra adventure Greater Anglia’s Class 720 is aimed as a commuter train - but does it make the grade? Find out with PIP DUNN‘s train test.…

A major Japanese investor plans to sell its £475 million stake in High Speed 1 and East Midlands Railway. The decision by Mitsubishi HC Capital (MHCC) could be seen as a message to the UK Government that it lacks confidence in the latter’s programme of long-term investment and ability to return to growth after COVID-19. The fear is that it could prompt other stakeholders to follow suit. The Times has reported that MHCC was enthusiastic about its British commercial interests back in 2016, when it was attracted by the Japan Infrastructure Initiative (JII) to support overseas infrastructure ventures. But it is understood that MHCC has now instructed Wall Street banker Cantor Fitzgerald to begin the auction of its two shareholdings in the spring - starting with EMR, which is currently…

The Government has promised Transport for London an extra £250 million next year for maintenance and renewals. Transport Secretary Mark Harper made the announcement on December 18, saying that he is committed to removing the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government has granted TfL almost £6.4 billion since 2020 to maintain service levels, support major capital projectss and protect revenue. The latest money will ensure that Phase 1 of the Piccadilly Line upgrade can be afforded, although Harper points out that TfL is not a special case when the rest of the country is also under significant financial pressure. He added: “Across the board, we have taken difficult decisions to support those who are hit hardest by rising costs. This settlement is fair and proportionate to London.” However, analysts…

Train manufacturing at Derby will end forever at the end of January unless new orders are forthcoming, says Alstom UK and Ireland MD Nick Crossfield. Alstom UK is consulting to make 1,330 jobs redundant at its Litchurch Lane facility (RAIL 997). The warning comes in response to a lack of orders, with no confirmed work beyond the first quarter of 2024 (when delivery of 2,500 Aventra electric multiple units ends), after the Department for Transport failed to deliver a promised national rolling stock strategy which would have featured the replacement of older trains. Giving evidence to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee’s inquiry into rail services and infrastructure, Crossfield was blunt: “In six weeks, we go from an annual output of 650 cars, employing 3,000 people, to zero. That…

The introduction of security cameras as a deterrent has led to an almost 90% reduction in the number of dangerous attacks on Northern trains. The operator has reported just eight incidents of objects being thrown from bridges, embankments and platforms, compared with 69 last year. Some 600 new CCTV devices have been added to the 1,000 already on stations, while 7,000 cameras fitted to the train fleet can be viewed by British Transport Police in real time. The worst incident was pellets fired from an airgun at a service from Leeds to Bradford Forster Square. Others have included a brick hurled at a Leeds-Skipton service at Kirkstall Forge station, and a drainpipe thrown at a train leaving Blackpool North.…

The seventh round of First of a Kind funding aims to develop innovative technology to drive efficiency, modernise infrastructure, and make using railways a better experience for passengers. The £5.3 million grant is split between 17 projects, to support them through their development phases involving trials, to give them a better chance of being used long-term. One of the ideas is for AI technology which could provide live staff announcements across train tickers, to ensure hard-of-hearing passengers don’t miss vital updates. Strategically placed QR codes around stations would allow train managers to directly input important information on platform changes and service alterations, as well as acting as a database for accessible information. An online journey planner providing up-to-date information on key facilities, such as the location of accessible toilets in…

Story Contracting has been awarded a design commission for a new station on the Glasgow-Neilston route. Balgray will be located between Patterton and Neilston stations in the area south of Barrhead and will serve new housing developments. Funding is coming from the Glasgow City Region City Deal, a £1.1 billion partnership between eight local authorities and the Scottish and UK Governments for a total of 27 projects. Close by, Network Rail has awarded £61.5 million worth of contracts for electrification of the full East Kilbride-Glasgow route by December 2025. It follows the just-completed Glasgow-Barrhead line rebuild which will enable Class 380 electric passenger trains on the route from the December timetable change. Work includes relocating the station at Hairmyres and extending the passing loop, improvements at East Kilbride, and accessibility…

Guest Columnist ON the day of the King’s Speech to Parliament in November, the Government announced that Parliamentarians and experts across the industry will have the opportunity to review and test the legislation needed to create Great British Railways (GBR). This is a clear statement that GBR remains the destination. And given the scale of the changes being made to the sector, it will help the Bill to have a swifter passage through Parliament when legislation is brought forward. As you might expect, as the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT), we are now working with the Department for Transport to adapt our plans to deliver reform, accounting for the delay to legislation. In preparing for all eventualities, we have taken a realistic appraisal of what can and cannot be…

Spring 1981 was a dark time for Britain’s railways. British Rail’s senior management firmly believed that no one in government was really listening to their pleas for desperately needed long-term investment, in order to provide a quality service for passenger and freight customers. It’s a full circle. Over the past 43 years, RAIL has reported on how the railways have gone from uncertainty under government control to sectorisation, privatisation, and back to uncertainty under government control. Over that period, the Channel Tunnel has opened, HS2 is under way, and no fewer than 26 Transport Secretaries have occupied Whitehall’s Transport hot seat. Sir Peter Parker, the charismatic chairman of the British Railways Board (BRB) from 1976-83, famously described the UK’s railways as on the “crumbling edge of quality”. When RAIL first…

Guest Columnist IT feels like a bleak New Year for some rail passengers. A litany of passengers stranded on broken down-trains, patchy performance, poor handling of disruption, and shorter trains has added up to a grim, fragile picture. Fare rises are around the corner. Add in strikes, working to rule and the weather, and you can see why coach travel is booming. However, I was taught a long time ago to take the ‘long view’. Try and step back from current events and see what trends there are over the last years, and what the priorities are for the coming years. When I joined the Central Rail Users Consultative Committee as director general in 1999, three issues dominated the agenda: performance, price rises, and car parking. In some ways, not…

THROUGHOUT my career in rail, much has been done to address the obvious inequalities in diversity that have existed in the industry from its beginning. When I started in operational management in rural East Anglia, I was the only woman in that sort of role for many miles in any direction. People would sometimes stop and stare, and many were put off their stride in discussions when faced with a ‘Jo’ whom they thought would be a ‘Joe’. Huge improvements have been made in this area, in the years covered by 1,000 editions of RAIL, and we should all be proud of the progress made. There is, of course, more still to do (for example, with neurodiversity) to better harness the amazing potential that exists to bring differing views to…

Guest Columnist THIS anniversary issue of RAIL is an opportunity to reflect on where the rail industry has come from - and where it might be going. I’m coming at this from having run Campaign for Better Transport (CBT)/ Transport 2000 from 1988-2018, covering much of the time that RAIL has been with us, and having been involved during that time in campaigning to retain and expand railways in the UK and to bring more people and goods onto them. Railways in Britain are facing tough times at present, and it’s easy to be gloomy about them and their future. But a long-term view that this anniversary allows shows that over RAIL’s lifetime, the railways have faced much greater threats. When RAIL was founded as RAIL Enthusiast in 1981, British…

UNLIKE some of the contributors to this momentous issue, I was not there at the beginning. But I have written this column for almost three-quarters of the existence of this magazine. Inevitably, therefore, this is a time for a retrospective look at these efforts, to make sense of the complicated world of railway politics. My first column, at the end of September 1995, was in issue 262, and I was apparently a modest brown-haired fellow at the time, who wrote: “I am a humble layman, an observer of the railways and Government policy towards them.” Now, I am a grey-haired git with a hint of arrogance born of surviving for this long in RAIL. My column, which editor Nigel Harris had invited me to write, initially titled me as ‘Wolmar…

railway milestones Feature When RAIL was launched, it was aimed at enthusiasts. The clue was in the title - RAIL Enthusiast! But as the railway changed, so did the magazine. Most hobbyist supporters of the railway found it hard to be excited about Sprinters and railbuses. Sectorisation exacerbated the decline in interest and meant that the chances of something ‘rare’ happening diminished. In the run-up to privatisation, the hobby then took a battering - Railtrack, at first, even wanted to ‘ban’ enthusiasts from its stations. In 1988, the magazine quietly and subtly changed to being known as just RAIL. The enthusiast tagline was reduced in prominence from issue 68 and dropped altogether from issue 76. In 1987-88 there were even interviews with sector managers from the likes of…

THE Department for Transport has quietly dropped its plan for Great British Railways to create a centralised online ticket retailer. A formal announcement has not been made, but the news slipped out on December 14 2023 in a routine online note about document changes, where the DfT noted a change to its May 2021 White Paper - the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail. The DfT said it had been “updated to reflect that government is no longer pursuing plans to deliver a centralised Great British Railways online rail ticket retailer”. The move had been criticised on the basis that all the current train operators have their own platforms, alongside 19 third-party retailers, who would be potentially affected. The DfT added: “The private sector plays an important role in driving innovation and…

A new two-year 13.8% pay offer from London Underground has been overwhelmingly accepted by ASLEF’s Tube train drivers. In a ballot with a 65% turnout, 1,301 drivers voted ‘yes’ (89%) and 168 ‘no’ (11%). Finn Brennan, ASLEF’s full-time organiser on LU, said: ‘This offer means we have achieved, for our Tube train driver members, a 13.8% pay rise over two years. “It is a no-strings offer which shows that agreements can be reached without industrial action, when employers are prepared to sit round the table and negotiate a settlement.” Although ASLEF had not been in dispute during the pay talks, it did plan strikes on London Underground for July 26 and 28 2023, in a dispute about terms and conditions. After a week of negotiations at ACAS, the union cancelled…

NORTHERN Ireland could be set for its first electrified railway, and a long-lost route could also be reopened, as part of a near £5 million improvements package announced by Transport Secretary Mark Harper. A promised revival in the fortunes of the province’s fixed track network, which was near to total closure in the 1960s, comes in response to Lord Hendy’s Union Connectivity Review. It includes £3.3m for operator Translink to deliver a study on the cost, feasibility, and value for money of electrification from Belfast to the Irish border. This follows publication in the summer of the draft All Island Rail Review, which recommended putting the full inter-city route to Dublin under wires to contribute to decarbonisation and improve journey times. Another £700,000 has been provided to study reopening the…

The Government has announced a target to increase rail freight by at least 75% by 2050. That figure was informed by research from the Great British Railways Transition Team. But RAIL understands the target would have been 95%, until the surprise decision to cancel the northern leg of HS2. Phase 2a to Crewe was seen as critical to providing the necessary additional capacity to enable more freight on the existing network. “This ambitious plan demonstrates this Government’s confidence in the rail freight sector,” said Transport Secretary Mark Harper. But critics pointed out the target represents 2.2% a year, which would be below long-term economic growth forecasts, and therefore indicates no increase in rail’s modal share. The Department for Transport said the target had been set “following a detailed consultation with…

THE industry must come together as ‘one railway’ to deliver reform, says Rufus Boyd, Interim Lead Director at the Great British Railways Transition Team. Speaking at the Rail100 Breakfast Club meeting in December, Boyd pointed to “clear and successful arguments” for reform of the railway. And while the King’s Speech in November only committed to bringing forward a draft form of the Rail Reform Bill, with the focus instead on reviewing and testing the legislation, it “remains the destination”. He added: “It’s an opportunity for the sector to recommit to reform as one voice. Given the scale of the changes being made to the sector, it is my hope that the upcoming Parliamentary scrutiny will help improve the Bill to have a swifter passage through Parliament when legislation is brought…

Barcode readers that allow passengers to scan e-tickets on smartphones or print from an email have been added to every ticket gate at stations managed by Govia Thameslink Railway. In total, 1,420 readers on 710 ticket gates (one on each side of the gate), across 98 stations served by Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink, are in operation. E-tickets are available for advanced singles, peak and off-peak single tickets, and peak and off-peak day returns, between any stations with a barcode reader on the ticket gates.…

Guest Columnist THERE have been two golden eras since 1980 when the rail industry has been at the top of its game. The first was after the launch of British Rail’s Sectors in 1982-93. The second was in the early years of privatisation in 2000-10. In both cases, winning was allowing professional rail managers to grow income and cut costs with the maximum possible freedom. It is not chance that the link between these periods lies in a sense of trust between government and industry which freed up the rail industry to deliver. RAIL issues in the 1980s record Bob Reid creating a culture of freedom for his Sector Directors to innovate and deliver, within a financial envelope agreed with government. He was rewarded beyond his expectations by the enthusiastic,…

Guest Columnist MANY congratulations to RAIL on reaching its 1,000th edition. It is a real milestone to have been reporting on our industry over so many years, and in doing so, cataloguing and debating the many changes that have happened in our railways. And yet, as the anniversary edition hits the newsstands, it is the future of our railways -and not the past - that has to be the topic of discussion. There is a real irony in the current situation. Greater use of rail is an imperative in the battle against climate change, and a core part of sustainable transport for goods and people. Yet at the same time, the costs pressures in a post-COVID economy threaten to undermine the actions needed to make this a reality, and indeed…

I make no secret that I am a firm believer in the opportunities that rail can create. It is one of the best ways to travel. It’s green, quick, and as an industry it can be a catalyst for economic growth at a regional and national level. However, we are all aware that the industry is operating against a backdrop of high uncertainty, and everything we do should take into account the current climate. We have to work together, and we have to have one clear vision. Our aim for rail should be simple - to understand and meet the needs of our customers. This in turn will drive usership and benefit the economy. It is for this reason that we need to remain focused to continue to deliver positive…

A lot has happened in the rail industry and the wider economy since RAIL first appeared in 1981, initially as RAIL Enthusiast. The publication was aimed at reporting the current railway scene, at a time when many of the titles available looked back to the steam era - leaving a gap in the market. There was plenty of material to cover, as British Rail was on the point of introducing sector management - a change that entailed a move away from centralised corporate structure to an organisation designed to be closer to its core rail markets, to enable the development of an improved offer. It also heralded the concept of dedicated resources allocated to individual businesses, bringing major productivity benefits that allowed investment in fleet renewal to be justified. The…

People were using the flower bed as an ash tray,” recalls Ray McDonagh, Station Assistant at South Tottenham. McDonagh and his Station Assistant companion Azaz Khan have seen the seeds of their efforts blossom into a major community exercise on London Overground’s Gospel Oak-Barking line. And their dedication was honoured at RAIL’s National Rail Awards in September, when they jointly received the Outstanding Personal Contribution (Frontline) award. The duo’s green-fingered interest was first piqued when a local secondary school made an approach with a proposal to create a mural with a local artist, Maud Milton. “Arriva donated some money, and it was put up on the wall and it looked great. But directly in front of it was a flower bed which was empty,” says McDonagh. “We just popped in…

Some final thoughts from the team at RAIL @RAIL Send contributions to: mike.wright@bauermedia.co.uk More roundabout journeys, which briefly bends/extends the current rules to include seven-day All-Line Rail Rovers. Andy Brundrett tells us that in the summer he undertook a similar journey to Denis Jones’ vaguely rectangular Stafford-Scotland-London-Stafford excursion as part of an All-Line Rover, but with seven day trips from (and returning to Stockport) each day. “Day 1 was Stockport to Glasgow Central via Preston, across to Edinburgh from Queen Street, down to King’s Cross, a quick walk to Euston, then back up the West Coast Main Line to Stockport. “Other highlights included the West of England Main Line from Waterloo to Exeter, the Bournemouth and Weymouth line, locomotive haulage up the Marches line from Newport to Stockport, and a…