Images of a new station in Liverpool which will contribute to Mayor Steve Rotheram’s target of reaching net zero by 2035 in the Liverpool City Region have been published. The computer generated images show how the ?100 million station at Liverpool Baltic will look. The project was to be completed by 2028, but the Mayor has committed himself to opening it in 2027. As well as the new images, a virtual reality walkthrough is to be unveiled ‘within weeks’, and a two-month public consultation will start in June ..read more

Virgin Group has confirmed reports that it has applied to the Office of Rail and Road for open access rights on the West Coast Main Line. The move comes only days after FirstGroup, which owns the majority of Avanti West Coast, said it was applying to run open access services between Rochdale and London. Virgin’s plans are the most ambitious ever proposed by a potential open access operator, because it wants to run between London, Birmingham and Manchester, and also to Liverpool and Glasgow, offering hourly services to most of those cities and two-hourly to Glasgow. It would also serve Rochdal ..read more

FirstGroup has unveiled plans to provide open access services between Rochdale and London. First already runs open access services from Hull and Edinburgh, and says the trains for the new service will be built in Britain. An application has been submitted to the Office of Rail and Road to provide six daily return journeys between Rochdale and London, calling at Manchester Victoria ,Eccles, Newton-le-Willows and Warrington Bank Quay ..read more

Southeastern has shortlisted five train builders as it begins planning a new or upgraded fleet for its Metro services. They are currently operated by Class 465 Networkers built between 1991 and 1994 for British Rail. The named suppliers are Alstom, CAF, Hitachi, Siemens and Stadler. Both Alstom at Derby and Hitachi in County Durham have been on the danger list in recent months, because of a shortage of new orders ..read more

TUESDAY BRIEFING: Number of rail apprentices grows ++ Name decided for new station ..read more

MONDAY BRIEFING: Union claims TOCs’ cleaning staff are ‘under pressure’ ++ RSSB warns of ‘significant challenges’ facing industry ++ Plans confirmed for Levenmouth opening ..read more

Construction of tunnels for HS2 between London and Birmingham has reached the half-way mark, according to HS2 Ltd. A total of almost 47km has been bored, and the project is now reaching ‘peak construction’, with more than 31,000 people working on it at 350 worksites. When the line is finished trains will travel through 88km of single bore tunnels, which will form 44km of the route, and 53 per cent of the tunnels have now been dug ..read more

The four nationalised train operators in England have joined forces to encourage innovations which could contribute to tomorrow’s railway. LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express, all of which are ultimately owned by the government through the Department for Transport, are seeking the latest technology which could be sent to ‘Future Labs’, a scheme intended to boost the development of ideas about solving present and future problems ..read more

Tram engineers and fitters working for Transport for London are set to strike from 20.00 on 5 May to 06.00 on 9 May, after talks over pay differentials had broken down. The two sides have clashed over allegations of ‘bad faith’ made by the engineers’ union Unite, which TfL denies. TfL is advising its passengers to walk, cycle or use buses or the Overground on strike days, when no tram services are expected before 07.00 or after 18.00 ..read more

More than 800 railway improvement projects are planned by Network Rail during the two bank holidays in May, when a total of ?135 million will be invested. Most of the work takes the form of ‘normal’ weekend engineering overnight, when few passenger trains are running. Disruption of a different kind will affect various English operators next week, when drivers’ union ASLEF stages further strikes in its continuing pay dispute. As before, this will be a series of ‘rolling’ strikes, affecting different groups of operators each day ..read more