The Labour party has set out its plan for rail, ahead of this year’s general election, with pledges to provide a long-term strategy which outlines the role of rail in economic growth and levelling-up, and to deliver taxpayer value for money in rail. Labour has also promised to deliver a rail-experts led Great British Railways (GBR), along with new railways legislation. However, the news that has grabbed the headlines is the party’s plan to renationalise passenger rail services within five years by bringing them into public control as their contracts expire. As expected, the news has stirred o ..read more

HS2 has released new images of the first completed sections of the landmark viaduct that will bring high speed trains into Birmingham’s new Curzon Street station The completed sections mark the next step on the programme to build a series of viaducts to carry the railway through Birmingham’s industrial heartland and into the city centre. High speed trains will travel out of the west portal of the 3.5 mile Bromford Tunnel at Washwood Heath and onto a one mile long stretch of connected viaducts through Duddeston, and cross over the Birmingham to Derby railway, Lawley Middleway and Digbeth Canal ..read more

East West Railway Company’s (EWR) Accessibility Advisory Panel (AAP) has drawn up a list of priority issues for train companies to address to ensure the varying needs of disabled people are fully met. With latest figures showing that nearly one in four (24%) of people in the UK is disabled, the AAP has highlighted key areas for improvement that address the needs of disabled people to be considered early in the design and construction stages so East West Rail (EWR) can be accessed and enjoyed by everyone. The “must-haves” identified by the panel, which held its first meeting one year ago this ..read more

Paul Knowles and Craig Loveman have recently joined QTS Training Ltd, the training arm of QTS Group. Paul has joined as a new trainer and assessor, while Craig has joined as an assessor and trainee trainer. Paul has joined QTS Training following a rail industry career spanning almost 25 years. During this time, he has covered a vast majority of rail disciplines from maintenance to planning, before moving into a training role at AmcoGiffen in 2019. Based at the QTS’s Nottinghamshire headquarters, Paul will play a key role in building the firm’s presence in England, leading on the delivery of t ..read more

HS2 has released timelapse and drone footage showing contractors moving a 1,100 tonne composite viaduct into place over two M42/M6 link roads in North Warwickshire. The 158-metre-long structure was moved into place in 13 hours using a specialist push-pull jacking technique. The ‘East M42-M6 Link Viaduct’ is one of 13 viaducts which make up HS2’s triangular Delta Junction. This section of the railway enables high speed trains to travel between London, Interchange Station in Solihull and Birmingham Curzon Street Station. The operation was completed 10 hours ahead of schedule during a weekend ro ..read more

Passengers travelling on the West Coast main line and North West rail routes are being advised to check before they travel ahead of important railway upgrades over the early May bank holiday. Network Rail is carrying out major projects between Saturday 4 and Monday 6 May to improve the region’s railway for passengers and freight. The work includes: Track and drainage upgrades in Crewe. Essential maintenance between Runcorn and Warrington. Important drainage improvements between Wigan and Liverpool. Continuing to electrify the line between Wigan and Bolton. Track maintenance and signalling wo ..read more

Sekisui manufactures synthetic wood baulks made from Fibre-reinforced Foamed Urethane (FFU). Network Rail engineers installed the first FFU baulks and sleepers as replacements for traditional hardwood on military canal bridges in Kent during 2014. The FFU product was first introduced on Japanese Railways in 1980 and early installations are still performing to specification. FFU is now widely used on railway infrastructure in 33 countries to support track on bridges, decking for level crossings, plain line sleepers, and switch and crossing (S&C) bearers. Newark flat crossing is an example ..read more

Train operator c2c Trenitalia says its work to crackdown on fare evasion and ticketing fraud has led to one customer recently paying back £10,000. The customer, recently travelling through one of c2c’s London stations, was asked to present their rail ticket to a revenue protection officer as part of a routine inspection. The customer in question did not have a valid ticket for the full length of the journey they had just made, and on further investigation it was found that the customer had been making this same trip and cheating the system for nearly five years. C2c has announced that its ong ..read more

As thousands of runners took to the streets for the Manchester Marathon earlier this month, Metrolink was able to record a new personal best for passengers served on a single day. On 14 April passengers made 175,000 journeys, the highest ever recorded on a single Sunday in Metrolink’s 30-year history. It was also the busiest Sunday ever recorded, and the eighth busiest day on the network since it opened in 1992. This year’s milestone was also 20% higher than the second highest number of journeys ever recorded on a Sunday – 145,000 – which was also hit during the Manchester Marathon in 2023. S ..read more

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has announced the appointment of John Whitehurst as its chief operating officer (COO). He will begin the role on Monday 20 May. The role will see John lead the planning and delivery of services across GTR’s four brands – Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern, and Thameslink – which collectively represent approximately 18% of UK rail passenger journeys. He will also hold key relations with the supply chain and industry partners such as Network Rail. John will bring to GTR significant experience within transport, having managed large teams and multi-million-po ..read more