UK passenger train operator news – Page 21
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Rail Business UKCaledonian Sleeper services return to full timetable
UK: Caledonian Sleeper has confirmed that it will be restoring its full timetable from April 29, after a lengthy period of running a single daily train between London and Inverness via Edinburgh. Both the Lowlander and Highlander services will re-start, albeit with slightly shorter formations for ...
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Rail Business UKFatigue cracks sideline GWR Class 800s
UK: Great Western Railway has taken some of its Class 800 inter-city trains out of service following the discovery of fatigue cracking in the yaw damper bolsters on a number of vehicles.
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Rail Business UKIsland Line reopening delayed by ‘unforeseen difficulties’ with Class 484 software
UK: The reopening of the Isle of Wight’s Island Line following modernisation work is to be delayed, as a result of ‘complex software issues’ with the Vivarail Class 484 electric multiple-units, South Western Railway has confirmed. The first of the five Class 484 EMUs being produced ...
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Rail Business UKReal-time loading information provided as Hull Trains restarts
UK: Hull Trains emerged from its three-month ‘hibernation’ as English coronavirus restrictions were eased on April 12, and has begun publishing real-time information on how busy its services are. The technology developed in-house by First Rail uses data supplied by onboard staff to show how busy ...
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Rail Business UKChallenges ahead as Chaudhry-van der Velde becomes TfW Rail Managing Director
UK: Transport for Wales has confirmed the appointment of Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde as the next Managing Director of TfW Rail. The new Managing Director has a number of challenges ahead, including completing the process of moving TfW Rail into full Welsh Government control and dealing ...
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NewsCross-border Irish rail review to study sustainable expansion
EUROPE: A Strategic Rail Review is to be commissioned to examine the potential for enhancing and expanding the island of Ireland’s rail networks, the republic’s Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Northern Ireland’s Minister for Infrastructure Nichola Mallon have announced. The ‘all-island’ review will ...
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Rail Business UKNorthern withdraws CAF multiple-units after damper bracket failures
UK: A significant number of CAF multiple units operated by Northern were taken out of service at the beginning of April after the failure of a yaw damper mounting bracket. Sections of the vehicle’s structure were broken away completely in the incident. Source: ...
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Rail Business UKAlstom awarded £25m Class 458 upgrading contract
UK: Leasing company Porterbrook has awarded Alstom a contract to upgrade the Class 458 electric multiple-units operated by South Western Railway ahead of their redeployment on medium and long distance services from the south coast. The £25m contract announced on April 6 covers an initial 28 ...
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Rail Business UKClass 442s to leave South Western Railway
UK: South Western Railway has halted the project to refurbish 18 Class 442 electric multiple-units for its London Waterloo to Portsmouth route, and the sets will now be returned to leasing company Angel Trains. Kiepe Electric had been awarded a £45m contract to undertaken an extensive ...
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Rail Business UKFirst vehicles delivered to lengthen Northern Ireland DMUs
UK: Translink has taken delivery of the first three of 21 intermediate cars ordered from CAF to extend seven existing NI Railways Class 4000 diesel multiple-units from three to six cars for use on busier routes. This will provide around 1 600 additional seats every day. The ...
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Rail Business UKStations to reopen on Birmingham’s Camp Hill line as funding finalised
UK: West Midlands Combined Authority has signed off the final £20m tranche of funding to reopen the Camp Hill line south of Birmingham for local passenger services.
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Rail Business UKExeter – Okehampton passenger service to be revived
UK: Regular passenger services between Okehampton and Exeter are to be reinstated, after the Department for Transport confirmed the provision of £40·5m of funding under the Restoring Your Railway initiative on March 19. The initial service will start by the end of this year, with an ...
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Rail Business UKScottish Government to take over ScotRail in March 2022
UK: The ScotRail franchise is to be taken over by the Scottish Government on the expiry of the current contract with Abellio in March 2022, Transport Secretary Michael Matheson has confirmed. Services are to be operated by an arm’s length Operator of Last Resort, wholly owned ...
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Rail Business UKScotRail plans Active Travel DMU deployment on West Highland Line
UK: ScotRail hopes to see the first of its five ‘Active Travel’ coaches converted from Class 153 single-car diesel multiple-units entering service during the May 2021 timetable. The main challenge is the training of 38 drivers from Oban and Glasgow Queen Street depots whilst coronavirus social ...
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Rail Business UKGovernment agrees ERMA extensions with three operators
UK: The Department for Transport has exercised its option to extend the Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements with c2c, South Western Railway and TransPennine Express, as discussions continue over the ending of franchise agreements and a move to directly-awarded National Rail Contracts. FirstGroup, which operates the South ...
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Rail Business UKTrain used as Covid-19 testing centre
UK: Govia Thameslink Railway has set up three Covid-19 rapid testing centres for its staff, including one on a Class 313 electric multiple-unit which has been fitted with curtains and screens and positioned at Brighton station. GTR is offering twice-weekly rapid lateral ...
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Rail Business UKScotRail’s Inter7City HST fleet delivered
UK: ScotRail has taken delivery of the last of the Inter7City HST sets being refurbished by Wabtec in Doncaster to operate services linking Scotland’s major cities. The Inter7City fleet is intended to comprise nine four-car and 17 five-car sets, but all are currently operating as four-car ...
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Rail Business UKScotRail looks to extended Emergency Measures Agreement
UK: With its existing Emergency Measures Agreement due to expire at the end of March, ScotRail has confirmed that is currently in discussions with the Scottish Government about a third agreement. Support of around £108m has been provided under the current agreement which runs from January ...
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Rail Business UKRedundancy-hit Hull Trains to resume operations in April
UK: Vowing to ‘build the business back up’ having made around a quarter of its staff redundant, Hull Trains Managing Director Louise Cheeseman announced on March 1 that the open access operator would restart services between London and East Yorkshire from April 12.
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Rail Business UKNorthern to use Payit for faster refunds
UK: In what the operator says is a first for the rail industry, Northern is to use the NatWest’s Payit payment system to issue refunds almost instantly to customers’ bank accounts. NatWest launched Payit in 2020 to enable instant refunds and customer service payments, as well ...