The Sleeper's Blog

RTM celebrates its 100th issue

28 October 2016RTM is extremely proud to announce that today marks the publication of our 100th edition. This edition, wrapped in a special celebratory cover, represents a major milestone in our 18-year journey as Britain’s rail industry media leader. We...

Network Rail chooses Barnardo’s as charity partner

26 October 2016Barnardo’s will be Network Rail’s Charity of Choice until March 2019, it was announced today. Network Rail will support the charity through fundraising, volunteering, gifts in kind and payroll giving. There’s no doubt that Barn...

If the Midlands makes the most of HS2, the UK will get most out of the Midlands

25 October 2016Maria Machancoses, programme director at Midlands Connect and director at Midlands Engine, writes for RTM about the opportunities HS2 will create for the region and the country. According to transport secretary Chris Grayling, the first phase of...

Virgin receives more than 15,000 applications for Azuma drivers

21 October 2016More than 15,000 potential train drivers have applied to drive Virgin’s new fleet of Azuma trains. Virgin said the applications, which closed on 14 October, equated to nearly 200 for each of the 78 posts, the biggest recruitment drive on th...

Rail industry honours Olympic heroes

18 October 2016Star Olympic and Paralympic athletes travelled from Manchester to London for victory celebrations thanks to free transport from the rail industry. The athletes took part in a parade in Manchester yesterday to celebrate their achievements, after B...

Breaking down mental health barriers

12 October 2016Chris Langer, scheme intelligence manager at CIRAS, on the link between mental health, safety and confidential reporting. When the CIRAS hotline rings, and we speak to a reporter with a safety concern, very often much of what they say is underpin...

Rail academy construction progressing at pace

07 October 2016Industry efforts to deliver world-class training facilities for the next generation of rail workers are progressing at apace, as government ministers visited two sites this week. On Wednesday, transport secretary Chris Grayling visited the Birmin...

Could this be the station of the future?

30 September 2016New images have brought to life a future where stations will be places to shop and socialise and not simply catch a train. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has released the images from bpr architects, which illustrate Station Place, a concept based...

Leeds rail bridge to get rainbow repaint in celebration of LGBT community

23 September 2016The Lower Briggate bridge in Leeds city centre will be repainted with the traditional LGBT rainbow colours after enough funds were raised by Leeds City Council and the local LGBT community. The bridge will be redecorated during engineering upgrad...

Two jobs, one stone: transferring the skills from a career in rail

20 September 2016David Stinton, graduate civil engineer at AECOM and sapper in the Royal Engineers, had no idea that working in rail would give him the opportunity to pursue two fulfilling careers with crucial transferrable skills. I decided that I wanted to work...

Skills swap: GWR and Amey apprentices trade places

13 September 2016Apprentices from Great Western Railway (GWR) and Amey will be swapping places throughout this month as part of a “rare” cross-organisational skills exchange between the operator and the engineering consultancy company. Those employed...

Sell Network Rail and scrap HS2?

09 September 2016Controversial reforms are needed to Britain’s rail network, including selling nearly half of Network Rail and an end to the HS2 project, according to a right-wing think-tank. The new paper from the Adam Smith Institute shows the increasingl...

TfL introduces new badges to help disabled passengers find seats

02 September 2016Disabled passengers will have an easier time finding a seat in the capital as Transport for London (TfL) unveils new ‘please offer me a seat’ badges. Up to 1,000 people can volunteer for a six-week trial to test the effectiveness of t...

Carne promises more improvements ahead of London Bridge opening

26 August 2016The Bank Holiday opening of London Bridge’s new concourse marks a turnaround for the capital’s beleaguered rail services, the chief executive of Network Rail has promised. Writing for the Evening Standard and on Network Rail’s w...

Hate crime increase on the railways following Brexit

23 August 2016Worrying new figures indicate that British railways are an increasingly dangerous place for ethnic minority groups following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. According to figures obtained by the Press Association through a Freedom...