Govia Thameslink Railway’s Brent Cross West station on the Midland Main Line in north London opened on December 10. Barnet Council said it was one of the first local authorities in England to deliver a rail infrastructure project and had secured £419m of funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. Mace provided project management, while construction was undertaken by VolkerFitzpatrick.
Network Rail has appointed Story Contracting to design Balgray station which is to be built between Patterton and Neilston. The station is being funded by the Glasgow City Region City Deal and is to be delivered in partnership with East Renfrewshire Council.
The Railway Heritage Trust has signed its CP7 funding agreement with Network Rail. The trust said it was ‘hugely grateful’ for the NR board’s ‘unwavering commitment’ to supporting its work, and ‘excellent co-operation’ from Regional Managing Directors and Route Directors.
Merseyrail is to operate a limited service on December 26. ‘Whilst most of the rail network will be shut, we will be providing services that offer people the chance to travel to work and leisure opportunities, or simply to visit relatives at this special time of year’, said Cllr Liam Robinson, Transport Portfolio Holder for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. ‘This shows the benefits that devolution can bring, allowing us to make decisions at a local level that benefit the people of our city region.’
Hull Trains now sells Locomotive pale ale produced exclusively for the open access operator by Hull brewery Atom Beers.
Marc Winterton has been appointed Managing Director of Unipart’s Park Signalling, leading the development of specialist railway and light rail control systems and digital technology. He joined the company in June 2023 as Commercial Director as part of a long-term succession plan which saw him take over from previous Managing Director Andrew Wright on November 1. Wright is to move into a Business Consultant role, supporting Park Signalling one day a week.
LNER is trialling the integration of British Sign Language across its information screens at Doncaster station. Videos translate updates into BSL to provide ‘true parity of information’.
South Western Railway Managing Director Claire Mann has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer at Transport for London from the end of March 2024, with responsibility for services including the Underground, Elizabeth Line, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and trams. Glynn Barton, who has led TfL’s operations on an interim basis since October 2022, will become Director of Buses.
Network Rail North West & Central Signalling & Telecoms framework contract holder VolkerRail has subcontracted Telent to provide services including splicing and testing optic fibre cabling and transmission equipment and replacing legacy infrastructure.
The Global Centre of Rail Excellence has signed an international collaboration agreement with technical advisory firm Contrax GCRE Ltd CEO Simon Jones said UAE-based Contrax has ‘a strong reputation of providing advice and support to companies and projects across the globe, but in particular it’s the knowledge that they bring of the Middle East that will be of most benefit to GCRE.’
Network Rail has awarded Telefonica UK a contract to provide mobile connectivity and supporting services for its corporate estate. The contract including mobile tariffs, voice, data, SIMs and hardware runs for an initial three years, with an option to extend for two further periods of 12 months.