Fares, rail policy and DfT news

Campaign for Windsor Link Railway to be revived

17 July 2019A campaign for a rail link between Windsor and Heathrow Airport is to be revived, after the scheme was turned down by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2017. The Windsor Link Railway (WLR), laid out in several phases, proposes a rail link conn...

Rail leaders respond as HS2 vote passes

16 July 2019Members of Parliament (MPs) have expressed anger at the government for pushing through phase 2a of HS2 through the House of Commons. The Phase 2a High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill passed with 263 votes in favour to only 17 against.

Gatwick Airport station to undergo £150m upgrade

09 July 2019The train station at Gatwick Airport will receive £150m in funding to widen the platforms and double the station’s concourse, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced. The renovation aims to reduce delays to services and stop...

Record number of passenger journeys as UK rail revenue rises to four-year high

18 June 2019The Office of Rail and Road recorded record figures of passenger journeys in 2018-19, in England, Scotland and Wales, according to the most recent report, as well as a four-year high in rail revenue.

No excuse for derailing station IT

10 June 2019Marie Clutterbuck, CMO at Tectrade, discusses the rail sector’s IT vulnerabilities, particularly at stations, and outlines the benefits of zero-day recovery IT architecture. Are you truly a commuter until you’ve reached a mainline sta...

Birmingham Moor Street vision embraces the future and celebrates the past

31 May 2019Maria Machancoses, director of Midlands Connect, looks forward to what the Birmingham Moor Street's redevelopment will mean for the region. Over the years, many of Birmingham’s beautiful, historic buildings have been lost to the bulldozers....

Northern leaders warn Treasury against scrapping under-fire HS2

23 May 2019Scrapping HS2 would be a “disaster” and would undermine Britain’s “national prosperity for decades to come,” more than 20 prominent local government leaders from the north and the midlands have warned. In a letter to...

Scrap HS2 and use its £56bn budget to fund 28 alternative projects, urges TPA

14 May 2019Scrapping the £56bn HS2 project could pave the way for 28 separate local infrastructure schemes to be funded instead with the case “getting stronger by the day” a new report from the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has claimed. ...

DfT calls for new technology to transform transport accessibility, but union warns against ‘faceless’ railway

14 May 2019The DfT has called for new technologies to revolutionise travel for older people and those with disabilities, but the RMT has “reacted with disgust” to its suggestions that travel apps can replace staff. Jessie Norman, the future of m...

First leg of HS2 ‘passing the point of no return’ due to amount of money already invested, says NAO head

13 May 2019HS2 is on the “verge of passing the point of no return” and the amount of money spent would make scrapping the flagship project “very difficult,” the head of the government spending watchdog has said. Sir Amyas Morse has w...

Arriva Rail becomes second operator to sue DfT over East Midlands franchise

13 May 2019Arriva Rail has launched legal action against the DfT over its handling of the East Midlands rail franchise, the second operator in a week to sue the government. Arriva, owned by Germany’s state-backed Deutsche Bahn, is suing the government...

Council backs plans for £100m global centre of rail excellence in Wales

10 May 2019A £100m train testing site on the border of Neath Port Talbot and Powys has taken a major step forward after the local council voted to approve the joint venture. Neath Port Talbot Council leader Rob Jones called it an “important step...

Network Rail reveals winner of Dawlish sea wall construction contract

10 May 2019Network Rail has awarded the contract for the construction of the first phase of the Dawlish sea wall to BAM Nuttall ahead of work starting at the end of this month. The £80m sea wall was announced in February to protect the coastal rail li...

Stagecoach launches legal action against government over rail franchise disqualification

09 May 2019Stagecoach has taken legal action against the DfT over its decision to disqualify the operator from the East Midlands rail franchise. The railway operator claims the government has “breached its statutory duties” in its decision, and...

Bond Street a year behind other Crossrail stations due to tunnelling problems

07 May 2019Crossrail’s Bond Street station is a year behind schedule compared to the rest of the project’s stations because of extensive tunnelling delays, Mark Wild has revealed. Speaking to the London Assembly, Crossrail’s chief executiv...