UK passenger train operator news – Page 15
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Rail Business UK
Safety was managed well in Class 800 cracking crisis, finds ORR
UK: Rail industry processes ensured that passenger safety was not compromised following the discovery of bodyshell cracks on the Hitachi-built Class 800 series trainsets in May 2021, according to a report published by the Office of Rail & Road on April 7.
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Rail Business UK
ScotRail transfers to public ownership
UK: ScotRail transferred to public ownership on April 1, with the 04.56 Inverness – Edinburgh train being the first service operated by ScotRail Trains Ltd, an arm’s length company owned and controlled by the Scottish government. The Scottish government had decided it would not to award ...
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Rail Business UK
Coventry station ‘transformation’ completed
UK: An £82m ‘transformation’ of Coventry station has been officially completed by Network Rail, Avanti West Coast and other operators, Transport for West Midlands, Friargate JV Project Ltd, Coventry City Council and other local regeneration stakeholders. The project includes an extended station ...
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Rail Business UK
Govia Thameslink Railway awarded National Rail Contract
UK: The Department for Transport has awarded incumbent Govia Thameslink Railway a National Rail Contract to continue operating Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern passenger services from April 1 2022 until at least April 1 2025, with up to a further three years at the Secretary of ...
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Rail Business UK
Temporary Measures Agreements for Scottish passenger services
UK: The Scottish government has put in place Temporary Measures Agreements to ensure the continuation of ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper services following the expiry of Emergency Measures Agreements. The ScotRail TMA is a short-term deal covering the operation of services by Abellio until ScotRail Trains Ltd ...
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Rail Business UK
EMR and Rock Rail enhance Derby depot ahead of Aurora arrival
UK: Work has begun to prepare East Midlands Railway’s Etches Park depot in Derby for the arrival of the operator’s electro-diesel Aurora trains. The £35m project, which rolling stock leasing company Rock Rail is part funding through a £30m contribution, will be delivered in two phases. ...
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Rail Business UK
App assists visually impaired passengers through the full rail journey
UK: London Overground operator Arriva Rail London has funded a trial of an audio navigation app from Waymap which is designed to help people with visual impairments travel more independently. The app has previously been tested at Birmingham International and stations in Los Angeles and Washington ...
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Rail Business UK
Govia gets £23·5m penalty for Southeastern contract breach
UK: The government has imposed a £23·5m penalty on Govia’s London & South Eastern Railway Ltd over a ‘serious breach’ of its former Southeastern passenger franchise agreement. In 2021 the Department for Transport found evidence that LSER had deliberately concealed over £25m of historic government funding ...
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Rail Business UK
GTR undertakes station accessibility improvements
UK: Govia Thameslink Railway has completed a £600 000 programme of small station improvements to make the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern networks more accessible. The works included installing improved customer information points at Three Bridges and Caterham stations, with wide, automated doors, and counters set ...
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Rail Business UK
GTR to restore Gatwick Express from April
UK: After being suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and briefly revived late last year just before the Omicron wave, Govia Thameslink Railway’s Gatwick Express will resume regular service on April 3 with twice hourly trains running non-stop between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria. ...
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Rail Business UK
Government allocates £84m to enhance reliability as Manchester Rail Blueprint emerges
UK: An £84m package of work to improve performance and capacity in Greater Manchester and neighbouring regions was announced by Rail Minister Wendy Morton during a visit to Manchester on March 11. The interventions include platform extensions, infrastructure enhancements and depot capacity improvements in what the ...
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Rail Business UK
Great Anglia launches virtual tour of Norwich station
UK: Greater Anglia and Virtual Tour Experts have created an online interactive virtual tour of Norwich station to help people with reduced mobility check how accessible their journey would be. The virtual tour consists of a series of 360° photographs linked by clickable markers, with a ...
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Rail Business UK
TransPennine Express explores further fleet and capacity expansion options
UK: First TransPennine Express is hopeful that it will be able to issue a call for expressions of interest in the provision of additional bi-mode trains before the end of March.
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Rail Business UK
Rail Accident Investigation Branch publishes Carmont derailment report
UK: Network Rail and its contractors come in for criticism in the Rail Accident Investigation Branch’s report into the fatal derailment at Carmont near Stonehaven. In its report published on March 10, RAIB focuses on the processes put in place to manage drainage at the site. ...
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Rail Business UK
West Midlands Trains appoints next Managing Director
UK: ScotRail Chief Operating Officer Ian McConnell is to become Managing Director of West Midlands Trains in April, once ScotRail has been transferred from Abellio to public body Scottish Rail Holdings. McConnell was previously Franchise & Programmes Director at Greater Anglia, and ...
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Rail Business UK
Levenmouth Rail Link reopening works get underway
UK: Network Rail has begun construction works for the Levenmouth Rail Link scheme to reopen the 6·5 km branch from Thornton Junction to Leven which has been out of use since 2001.
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Rail Business UK
Onboard track condition monitoring sensors on trial in Scotland
UK: Hitachi Rail’s Perpetuum subsidiary is working with Network Rail, Porterbrook and ScotRail to test the use of onboard digital sensors to automate the detection of track faults. The self-contained and self-powered sensors mounted in trains running in passenger service use a combination of gyroscopes and ...
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Rail Business UK
Mullen named as next c2c Managing Director
UK: Rob Mullen has been appointed as the next Managing Director of Trenitalia’s Essex commuter train operator c2c, with effect from mid-May.
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Rail Business UK
First Rail’s management fee operations meet expectations and open access is ahead
UK: Performance at First Rail’s four management fee-based train operating companies is in line with expectations for the second half of the financial year, while open access operators Hull Trains and Lumo are marginally ahead of expectations, FirstGroup said in a trading update on February 25. ...
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Rail Business UK
Belfast Transport Hub main works get underway
UK: A joint venture of Farrans and Sacyr is set to begin main works on the Belfast Transport Hub as enabling works by Graham near completion and railway works by Babcock are underway. The Transport Hub will replace the existing Great Victoria Street railway station and ...