Comment

The challenge of completing Crossrail

05 July 2019With a new plan now in place to deliver Crossrail, Hedley Ayres, National Audit Office manager, major projects and programmes, takes a look at how things went wrong. As has been extensively reported, Crossrail is around two years late and, if all...

Preparing the industry to deliver trains for the future

04 July 2019The move to decarbonise the rail network involves shifting to cleaner modes of traction by 2050. David Clarke, technical director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), examines how to create a green and efficient future. The need to decarbon...

Sunshine future beckons for South Wales Railways, says 10:10 Climate Action’s Leo Murray

02 July 2019Smart electrification is the way to boost clean energy resources, argues Leo Murray, director at 10:10 Climate Action. Contractors are clearing our site in Aldershot to make way for Riding Sunbeams’ ‘First Light’ test unit, demo...

Ambition doesn’t have to be expensive, says Midland Connect's Maria Machancoses

02 July 2019The TCR Midlands conference is only days away and tickets are going fast for the sector event of the year at the Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham on 18 July. Get your tickets online here. With increasingly louder voices calling for greater inv...

Increasing passenger confidence and accessibility with the Rail Delivery Group

25 June 2019The Rail Delivery Group plans to make travelling by train easier than ever before by making trains and stations more accessible and developing a new app. Robert Nisbet, Director of Regions and Nations at the Rail Delivery Group, tells June/July R...

Diversity, inclusion and marking 100 years of Women in Engineering

24 June 2019One hundred years on from the birth of the Women in Engineering Society (WES), members of the rail and wider engineering industry gathered today at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. A lot has changed since those days of World War One...

Challenging perceptions of apprenticeships in the rail industry with Anna Delvecchio

20 June 2019RTM talks exclusively to one of the rising stars of the industry and Transport’s Woman of the Year 2018, Anna Delvecchio. Amey’s commercial account director, TransCityRail panellist and Rail Sector Deal co-lead, Delvecchio d...

Hitachi trains for Happy trains

10 June 2019ScotRail project manager Kirsty Devlin discusses the withdrawal of Class 365s, to be replaced with the brand-new Class 385 fleet. While ScotRail awaited delivery of the Hitachi Class 385s last year, we had to replace some older trains which had c...

Malcolm Holmes on new stations for the Black Country

10 June 2019Malcolm Holmes, executive director of the West Midlands Rail Executive, described the new stations set to be built for the Black Country region of the Midlands. The last time the residents of Darlaston or Willenhall could board a train on their d...

A train journey on the Midland Main Line 15 years from now…

10 June 2019Chris Hobson, director of policy and external affairs at the East Midlands Chamber, talks in detail about what travelling through the region will look like in 2034. A mere 15 years from now, a description of a rail journey from London to Sheffiel...

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...

The skills bottleneck: Dealing with growing apprenticeship demand

10 June 2019Richard Turner, head of apprenticeships at Network Rail, details the reasons for growing apprenticeship demand in the rail sector over the coming years. The Network Rail Engineering Technician apprenticeship program develops the technicians, team...

Dawlish rail investment must be the start of a new transport deal for our region

04 June 2019Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton, gives his perspective on the opportunities the highly-anticipated Dawlish rail line refurbishment will create for the region for the future. As an MP, twice a week I get to ride up and down the trainline from...

Out with the old: London Underground's track renewal works

04 June 2019Alistair McLaughlin, programme delivery manager for Balfour Beatty, and John Lambert, head of track programme for Transport for London (TfL), explore the intricacies of London Underground track renewal works as part of the new Integrated Track Tea...

Delivering Metro Plus in Cardiff

04 June 2019Cllr Huw David, chair of the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) Transport Authority, and leader of Bridgend County Borough Council, explains why the recently announced Metro Plus plans will deliver local benefits to counties within the region. Earlier...