On November 10 Greater Anglia held a ‘taster day’ at its training academy in Stratford where 25 women who currently work for the operator in a variety of roles learned about the tests and skills required to become a train driver. ‘Days like this give our female colleagues a chance to look at the recruitment and training process and we hope that it will increase our applications for female train drivers in the company’, said Katy Bucknell, the operator’s HR Director. Out of the operator’s 805 main line drivers, 8% are women.
Natasha Grice is to become director of Transport Focus on November 20, joining from her current post of Interim Head of Customer Strategy at Chiltern Railways.
With International Men’s Day on November 19 having the theme of Zero Male Suicide, Northern Managing Director Nick Donovan said ’we need to breakdown the taboo that sadly still exists around men talking about their mental health and seeking help with their problems. International Men’s Day is a great opportunity to advance that cause.’ The operator has previously worked with men’s mental health charity CHAPS and the male suicide prevention charity Andy’s Man Club on one-to-one and group sessions on resilience for their male staff.
Barnet Council has announced that the 7 000 m2 four-platform Brent Cross West station on the Midland Main Line in north London will open on December 10, served by up to eight Thameslink trains an hour at peak times. The station has been designed as a gateway to the Brent Cross Town development of 6 700 homes, space for 25 000 office workers and a new high street.
c2c has invited proposals for future station enhancements to be funded through the government’s Station Improvement and Customer & Communities Investment Fund from April 2024. ‘Thanks to the feedback received from customers in previous years, this fund has already supported many station projects and developments, including the installation of improved CCTV cameras across the network, water fountains added to concourses and refurbished waiting areas’, said Customer Experience & Policy Manager Amandeep Sogi.
Transport for Wales is undertaking public engagement on the Wrexham Gateway Transport Hub plan to regenerate the area around Wrexham General station.
Network Rail has completed the refurbishment of the Grade II-listed North Eastern Railway cast iron footbridge at Beverley station. The structure dating from the 1880s has been strengthened and new parapets, surfacing and stair treads installed. However, the distinctive wooden canopy which was in poor condition has been removed and not replaced, a decision which attracted criticism from the Beverley Civic Society and others.
Richard Hinds joined Northern as finance director on November 13, after seven years with technology product distributor Exertis and senior roles with Flogas Britain and Speedy Hire.
This year’s Rail Staff Carol Service is to take place at St Mary’s Somers Town, Eversholt Street, London on December 14. The lessons will be read by Lord Peter Hendy, Chair Network Rail; Mary Grant, CEO Porterbrook; Elaine Clark, CEO Rail Forum; Claire Mann, MD South Western Railway & RSSB Board Member; Will Rogers, MD East Midlands Railway; and Iain Stewart MP, Chair of the Transport Select Committee. The Rail Staff Carol Service is supported by the Transport Benevolent Fund, Network Rail, RSSB, Porterbrook, Rail Forum, Rail Freight Group, GBR Transition Team and Siemens Mobility.