UK passenger train operator news – Page 13
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Rail Business UKSteve Murphy to leave MTR UK
UK: MTR UK Chief Executive Steve Murphy is to leave ‘to pursue other career goals’, Hong Kong-based transport group MTR Corp announced on February 23. Murphy’s last working day will be March 29. The process of appointing a new CEO has begun, and the MTR Elizabeth ...
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Rail Business UKProcurement of new TransPennine Express trains to learn lessons from past
UK: TransPennine Express has confirmed more details of the trainsets which are to be ordered under the procurement process which was launched following the confirmation of the latest £3·9bn tranche of funding for the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme. Expressions of interest were invited in December, and ...
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Rail Business UKCrossCountry Managing Director leaves
UK: Managing Director Tom Joyner left CrossCountry with immediate effect on February 15.
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Rail Business UKTransPennine Express confirms plans to ‘build back’ its timetable
UK: TransPennine Express has confirmed that it expects to begin reinstating services to meet commitments it made when it announced temporary timetable reductions in December 2023. Good progress has been made with crew training which will allow the operator to begin to restore services from June ...
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Rail Business UKLondon Overground routes get new names
UK: Names have been announced for the six London Overground inner-suburban rail routes. They do not currently have individual identities, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said giving them distinct colours and names would ‘make it easier for passengers to get around’ while celebrating ‘London’s unique ...
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Rail Business UKTransPennine Express refreshes ‘diluted and confused’ onboard catering
UK: TransPennine Express is to relaunch its onboard catering proposition from February 26 after a review concluded that its existing offering had become ‘diluted and confused’. The operator told stakeholders that this is partly the result of timetable enhancements which have not been matched by budget ...
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Rail Business UKContactless PAYG launched in South Wales
UK: Transport for Wales has launched a contactless card Pay-As-You-Go pilot project covering journeys between Cardiff Central, Newport and Pontyclun. The Ebbw Vale line will be covered next, and the scheme is to be expanded to 95 stations across South Wales during 2024. Passengers can tap ...
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Rail Business UKFull Bedford – Bletchley service returns with £1 tickets
UK: A full service will resume on the Marston Vale Line between Bedford and Bletchley from February 19, operator West Midlands Trains has announced. Trains on the route were replaced by buses in December 2022 following the demise of Vivarail, which supplied ...
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Rail Business UKBradford Forster Square station remodelling funded
UK: The Department for Transport has announced £24m of funding for the delivery of works to increase capacity at Bradford Forster Square station. A further £4m has previously been spent on design work for the project, which includes a new platform, relocating a crossover and associated ...
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Rail Business UKBattery train trial equipment installed
UK: Great Western Railway is testing a Class 230 battery multiple-unit on the national network between Long Marston, Evesham, Honeybourne and Moreton-in-Marsh, ahead of trials of the train and FastCharge technology on the Greenford branch in west London. In February 2022 GWR signed an agreement with ...
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Rail Business UKClass 730 EMU arrives in the West Midlands
UK: ‘Customers will have their breath taken away’ said West Midlands Mayor Andy Street when West Midlands Railway presented its Alstom Aventra Class 730 EMUs in Wolverhampton on February 8. As part of a £700m investment in new rolling stock, operator West Midlands Trains is introducing ...
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Rail Business UKTrain operator launches British Sign Language interpretation service
UK: East Midlands Railway has signed up to a British Sign Language service to help deaf passengers communicate with staff. The service operated by InterpretersLive is accessed via an app or link which puts users in touch with an BSL interpreter. The interpreter finds out the ...
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Rail Business UKBattery traction trial ahead as TransPennine Express fortunes improve
UK: Overcrowding and short-notice cancellations at state-owned TransPennine Express have declined since the December timetable change, prompting Managing Director Chris Jackson to suggest the operator is in a ‘better place’.
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Rail Business UKProject aims to automate DMU inspections
UK: East Midlands Railway is working with Bristol-based technology firm One Big Circle on a project to remove the need for manual trackside inspections of diesel multiple-units. The DepotMATE project will use One Big Circle’s Automated Intelligent Video Review cloud-based platform along with high-resolution line scanning, ...
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Rail Business UKAccessible station toilet programme underway
UK: A toilet designed by Seed Architects has opened at Northern’s Broadbottom station as part of an accessibility programme funded by Transport for Greater Manchester.
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Rail Business UKHeritage features restored at London Overground station
UK: London Overground operator Arriva Rail London has completed a heritage restoration project at Bruce Grove station, funded by Transport for London. TfL initially asked ARL to repair and replace deteriorating assets. As the work progressed, the project team identified the opportunity to revive historic features. ...
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Rail Business UKInterim Managing Director for South Western Railway named
UK: Chief Operating Officer Stuart Meek has been appointed Interim Managing Director at South Western Railway with effect from March 19. He takes over from Claire Mann, who is leaving to become Chief Operating Officer at Transport for London. The process to recruit a permanent Managing ...
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Rail Business UKImproving mobile connectivity in King’s Cross tunnels
UK: Rail connectivity company Linbrooke is installing bespoke antennas to eliminate mobile phone coverage ‘not-spots’ in the Gasworks and Copenhagen tunnels on the approach to London King’s Cross station. The project is being funded by LNER and undertaken in collaboration with Network Rail and mobile network ...
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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 UKInterview: Avanti West Coast navigates complex path to recovery
UK: Avanti West Coast Managing Director Andy Mellors sets out how the operator intends to restore resilient operations and develop services further, explaining that there will be no return to the pre-Covid operating plan on Europe’s busiest mixed-use railway.