Network Rail regulation and performance

Network Rail awards £750m of major signalling contracts for CP6

29 April 2019Network Rail has announced the winners of six major signalling and telecoms contracts worth a total of £750m across Control Period 6. The signalling and telecoms (S&T) frameworks have been split into six geographical lots, and are the f...

BTP and Network Rail warn drone pilots after ‘dangerously close’ incident in Surrey

26 April 2019Network Rail and British Transport Police (BTP) have issued a warning to drone pilots to keep away from railway tracks after one incident in Surrey saw a drone fly “dangerously close” earlier this month. The pilot of the drone risks b...

Safety concerns raised over Network Rail’s £1.4bn railway arches sell-off

25 April 2019Concerns over safety and hidden defects regarding Network Rail’s widely publicised £1.46bn sale of railway arches and 5,200 commercial estate properties have been reported to a confidential structural safety body. Anonymised concerns...

ScotRail’s new Hitachi Class 385 trains launched into service on Shotts line

25 April 2019ScotRail has introduced its new Hitachi Class 385 trains onto the Edinburgh to Glasgow via Shotts line, meaning the electric trains are now running on all five routes between the two cities. Following the completion of Network Rail’s £...

Helium balloons causing ‘increasing number of train delays’ at cost of £1m

17 April 2019Helium-filled balloons are causing hundreds of train delays at a cost of £1m in taxpayer money every year, Network Rail has revealed. There have been 619 balloon-related incidents across England, Scotland and Wales in the past year –...

Dawlish sea wall gets council planning approval with construction to begin in May

17 April 2019Plans for an £80m sea wall to protect the Dawlish coastal rail line from extreme weather have been by approved by Teignbridge District Council. Construction of the new sea wall will now begin at the end of May, and once completed will provi...

Mother of girl killed by ‘silent’ train suing Network Rail for breaching its duty of care

15 April 2019Network Rail is being sued by the mother of a teenager who was killed by a ‘silent’ midnight train in Halifax. Milena Gagic, 16, died instantly when she was hit by a night train travelling at 55mph at a level crossing in December 2014...

Renewable Welsh rail electrification project wins decarbonisation funding

12 April 2019Plans to use renewable energy sources to electrify Welsh train lines have won a grant from the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), one of six rail decarbonisation projects to have won the funding. The ‘Green Valley Lines’ scheme t...

Cornwall train with 14 passengers onboard derailed after track jumped to wrong position, RAIB finds

12 April 2019A train with 14 passengers on board derailed at a Cornish station after the points which allow trains to switch between tracks jumped into the wrong position, the RAIB has found. The passenger train was left straddling between two lines as it ent...

DfT awards East Midlands rail franchise to Abellio

10 April 2019Abellio has won the next East Midlands rail franchise and will take over from Stagecoach in August 2019 until 2027. The DfT announced that the ScotRail operator has been named as the successful bidder “after they presented a strong, complia...

Corbyn calls for new electrified West Country rail line bypassing Dawlish

09 April 2019The Labour Party leader has called for a new electrified rail line connecting the West Country with London which will bypass Dawlish. The inland rail line would avoid Dawlish, where the current railway clings to the coast between Plymouth and Exe...

RAIB to investigate lorry’s near miss with train at level crossing

04 April 2019The RAIB has launched an investigation after a passenger train came close to a collision with a lorry that had become trapped at a level crossing. The cement mixer lorry drove onto the crossing at Mucking in Essex just as the barriers began lower...

ORR approves action improvement plan from Network Rail

03 April 2019An action plan from Network Rail to improve its performance in response to enforcement action taken against it in November last year has been given approval by the ORR. Network Rail has set out how it intends to improve its poor performance by wo...

Network Rail buys up old Croydon sites in plans to fix Britain’s busiest railway bottleneck

02 April 2019Network Rail has bought two old Royal Mail depots and Volkswagen sites next to East Croydon Station as part of its plans to “unblock the London-Brighton railway bottleneck at Croydon.” The purchase of the old Royal Mail building site...

Network Rail unveils £2bn CP6 investment for Wales and Borders railway

01 April 2019Plans for a £2bn investment over the next five years across the Wales and Borders have been published by Network Rail. This includes investing £176m on track renewals and refurbishments, £135m to improve signalling in west Wales...