Great Western Railway announced on May 22 that Class 387 EMUs had begun operating suburban services between London Paddington and Maidenhead as the partial electrification of the Great Western Main Line progresses. Electrification should be extended as far west as Didcot Parkway from ‘early 2018’, GWR says.

Cambridge North station opened to the public on May 21, served by Great Northern and Greater Anglia. Great Northern has also increased its off-peak service to Ely, providing a train every 30 min during the day as part of a package of improvements that has seen Class 387 EMUs introduced on all London King’s Cross – Cambridge – King’s Lynn services.

GB Railfreight announced on May 24 a three-year extension to its agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co to run intermodal trains from the Port of Felixstowe. The trains run three times a day to terminals at Hams Hall in the West Midlands and Rotherham.

Petards has been awarded a contract to supply its EyeTrain CCTV equipment to Bombardier for installation pn the 111 five- and 10-car Aventra EMUs it is building for Greater Anglia.

On May 25 the British Transport Police deployed armed officers to patrol trains on the national network for the first time. This forms part of a national mobilisation plan implemented as the government raised the threat level to ‘critical’ after the terrorist attack in Manchester on May 22.