England railway business news
News about railway operations, infrastructure, suppliers and policy in England, from Rail Business UK.
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Rail Business UKArmitt criticises ‘blurred picture’ for rail development in wake of HS2 axe
UK: ‘It hasn’t been a great six months for rail’, suggested Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, in his keynote address to the Northern Transport Summit on March 21. Armitt was among a raft of policymakers and transport officials at the event who ...
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Rail Business UKBurnham urges rail sector to accelerate integration into Manchester’s Bee Network
UK: Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham has pledged to accelerate integration of local rail services into the nascent Bee Network of public transport provision if he is re-elected on May 2. The Bee Network is a locally developed brand already being applied to Manchester Metrolink light ...
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Rail Business UKEnglish public transport in a ‘precarious position’ says UTG
UK: Public transport in English city regions is in a ‘precarious position’, the Urban Transport Group said when it published its Inside Track: The state of transport 2024 report into trends over the last decade. The number of trips made per person in 2022 was 862, ...
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Rail Business UKMidlands Rail Hub planning funding confirmed
UK: The government has confirmed an initial £123m of funding for the £1·75bn Midlands Rail Hub programme to enhance east-west connections in the Midlands.
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Rail Business UKHigh Speed 2 funding ‘reallocated’ to roads
UK: The government has announced a £4·7bn Local Transport Fund to support projects in smaller cities, towns and rural areas England’s north and Midlands using what it describes as ‘reallocated HS2 funding’. The fund is for communities which do not benefit from City Region Sustainable Transport ...
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Rail Business UKThree West Midlands station proposals to be developed
UK: The West Midlands Rail Executive has allocated £1m to develop proposals for new stations at Castle Bromwich, Coventry East and a location near Tettenhall. The locations shortlisted following a feasibility study are on existing lines in areas with poor transport access and with some high ...
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Rail Business UKWest Midlands – Manchester rail plan is not a HS2 revival, mayors say
UK: Metro Mayor for the West Midlands Andy Street and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham report that they have held constructive talks with the Secretary of State for Transport, Rail Minister and senior officials from the Department for Transport regarding their work to assess how ...
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Rail Business UKCapacity increase future-proofs Birmingham’s University station
UK: A three-year project to increase passenger capacity at University station on Birmingham’s Cross City Line was completed with the opening of two buildings on January 28. The station was designed for 500 000 passengers/year when it opened in 1978, but expansion of the university and ...
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Rail Business UKTees Valley station plans announced
UK: Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has announced plans to build a £150m rail and bus interchange to serve the Teesside Park retail site in Stockton, as well as for a £20m replacement of Teesside Airport station and improvements at Thornaby. ‘Teesside Park is one of ...
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Rail Business UKEast West Rail project should be aligned with wider economic strategy, says National Audit Office
UK: The government needs to align the East West Rail project and housing development plans to maximise the economic benefits of the future railway, according to a report from the National Audit Office.
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Rail Business UKRail plans in Hull and East Yorkshire devolution deal
UK: Electrification from Hull to Sheffield and Leeds, journey time reductions, a parkway station and more local input into rail priorities are included in a proposed devolution deal signed by the leaders of East Riding of Yorkshire and Kingston upon Hull City councils and the Department ...
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Rail Business UKMayors launch group to study improved Birmingham – Manchester rail links
UK: West Midlands Mayor Andy Street and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham have convened a private sector group to look at options to improve rail connections between the Midlands and the north of England. The mayors said the Birmingham – Manchester corridor running through Wolverhampton ...
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Rail Business UKCambridge South station and rail enhancement funding confirmed
UK: The Cambridge South Infrastructure Enhancements scheme including the construction of a new station to serve Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Biomedical Campus has been given the go-ahead with the confirmation of around £200m of government funding. The project includes remodelling the railway between Cambridge and Shepreth ...
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Rail Business UKRail Minister commits to trans-Pennine electrification ‘in full’ and HS2 to Manchester
UK: Suggestions that the Transpennine Route Upgrade may be scaled back in response to funding constraints were rejected by Transport Minister Huw Merriman when questioned by Rail Business UK.
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Rail Business UKManchester rail plans rethought as ‘ambition wasn’t able to be delivered’
UK: Network Rail has withdrawn a planning application for rail infrastructure works in Manchester, Rail Minister Huw Merriman confirmed during a visit to the city on May 25.
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Rail Business UKLocally guided £72m rail plan aims to unblock northern rail capacity
UK: Rail Minister Huw Merriman announced a £72m programme of investment for the network in Greater Manchester during a visit to Manchester Victoria station.
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Rail Business UKGovernment announces 5·9% increase in regulated fares in England
UK: The government has announced that the annual increase in regulated fares in England is to be capped at 5·9%, 6·4 percentage points lower than the Retail Price Index figure on which they have been historically based. Until the pandemic, fares had been raised in January ...
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Rail Business UKRail leaders frustrated as DfT tightens grip and cuts loom
UK: Rail Business UK has taken soundings from across the train operating companies, Network Rail and from sources close to the Department for Transport, finding a bleak outlook. Industry leaders fear having to implement stark cuts to rail provision, even if the industrial relations issues plaguing the sector can be resolved.
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Rail Business UKMidlands Rail Hub upgrade package dubbed ‘biggest step possible in levelling-up the Midlands’
UK: Sub-national transport body Midlands Connect has published Going for Growth, proposing up to £1·5bn of new or improved infrastructure in 2025-30 to ‘transform east-west connections in the Midlands’ by facilitating the operation of more than 100 extra trains. The outline business case for the ‘biggest ...
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Rail Business UKMcLoughlin berates government over northern rail failures as disruption set to worsen
UK: TfN Chair Lord Patrick McLoughlin has described the ongoing rail disruption on routes within and to and from northern England as ‘unacceptable’.