Rail Industry Focus

Ilkeston, 50 years on

18.11.16: The town of Ilkeston is finally getting another rail station after almost 50 years without tracks. Geoff Pickford, service director for highways at Derbyshire County Council, gives an update on the latest developments taking place at the site. ...

Oxford station on track for Marylebone

15.11.16: Network Rail’s senior programme manager, Jonathan Davies, and its project manager, Rob Mashford, speak to RTM about the ongoing works in and around Oxford station ahead of Chiltern Railways running services on the new Oxford-Marylebone lin...

Making rail history

15.11.16: An innovative approach to partnership working has helped S&C North Alliance make rail history on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) by delivering the UK’s first 125mph handback on a S&C renewal. Neil Johnson, alliance director, explai...

Are we ready to export rail?

07.11.16: RTM’s David Stevenson reflects on the key messages from this year’s Dinner at the Roundhouse. A key message to come out of this year’s Dinner at the Roundhouse was that UK rail needs to be ready to export and broaden its h...

Putting gender diversity to the test

07.11.16: RTM’s Luana Salles reports from this year’s Big Rail Diversity Challenge, which gathered 30 gender-balanced teams from different rail companies to participate in a series of challenges that proved men and women can, and should, work...

Lighting the way in energy consumption reduction

07.11.16: RTM’s David Stevenson speaks to Ben Martin, head of asset management at c2c, about the energy-saving programme being rolled out at the operator’s stations. In an effort to significantly reduce energy consumption, National Expres...

Delivering a seamless wireless experience for customers

15.09.16: An innovative collaboration to deliver a seamless wireless experience for customers has led to an industry first for Chiltern Railways. Hans Stiles, the operator’s head of IT, explains how. Five years ago, Chiltern Railways became the...

The station of today and of tomorrow

15.09.16: As Cambridge North station finally begins to take shape, RTM speaks to Eliane Algaard, director of route asset management for Anglia at Network Rail, to find out more about the latest developments. For a station that has been plagued with d...

RSSB unveils trailblazing closed loop 'dynamic' pantograph

13.09.16: The cutting-edge pantograph developed by Somerset-based company Brecknell Willis, in conjunction with the RSSB, was unveiled at an industry event last week. The closed loop pantograph, which benefitted from a £300,000 innovation grant...

New Tube for London: learning from past mistakes

05.09.16: Transport for London (TfL) has committed to learn from the mistakes made in the Four Lines Modernisation Automatic Control (4LM ATC) programme in order to improve its signalling procurement for New Tube for London – but major issues have a...

Taking back flood control

05.09.16: Network Rail’s commercial scheme sponsor, Joanna Grew, talks to RTM about the recent flood alleviation works carried out at Hinksey. Over the last 14 years, flooding on the Didcot to Oxford railway line between Hinksey has led to 11 c...

Crossrail: Setting the bar high for commuter travel

05.09.16: During a site visit to Bombardier’s testing facility to see the Crossrail train first-hand, RTM caught up with Mark Wild, London Underground’s managing director, to find out more about the project’s development. Luana Salles re...

Gearing up for Severn Tunnel electrification

31.08.16: Brian Paynter, head of programme, planning and integration IP Track, Plain Line at Network Rail, and Daniel De Luca, project manager at the infrastructure owner, discuss the challenges in the enabling work ahead of a significant closure of the S...

Unleashing the potential of the Class 800s

31.08.16: Andy Rogers, projects director at Hitachi Rail Europe, talks to RTM’s David Stevenson after two of the company’s Class 800 InterCity Express Trains made test runs on the recently electrified Reading to Didcot section of the GWML. ...

A fresh look for VTEC

31.08.16: John Doughty, engineering director for Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC), talks to RTM about the progress that has been made on refreshing the operator’s 45-strong fleet. As RTM went to press, VTEC had reached the halfway point of its &...