Network Rail is to award leasing company Angel Trains a contract to provide a comprehensive overhead line equipment monitoring service on Class 357 EMUs operated by c2c. This will enable NR to proactively identify and address potential defects.
Martijn Gilbert has stepped down as Managing Director of FirstGroup’s open access rail businesses, London Trams operator Tram Operations Ltd and London Cableway to pursue another leadership opportunity. Stuart Jones, Commercial Director for Open Access, will take on the remit of Managing Director of the open access businesses. ‘Stuart has been instrumental in driving our open access strategy forward and will now focus on achieving that growth whilst driving performance excellence’, said First Rail Managing Director Steve Montgomery. Fran Barrett, Business Assurance Director at First Rail, will additionally take on the leadership of Tram Operations Ltd and London Cableway on an interim basis.
Network Rail has awarded Octavius a £7·9m contract to install two lifts at c2c’s Chalkwell station in Essex. The company will supply a vertical linear beam lift, the second time the technology has been used on the UK rail network following one at Grays. The existing footbridge will be demolished.
Advance purchase and connections tickets have been introduced between Barton-On-Humber, Barrow Haven, New Holland, Goxhill, Thornton Abbey and Ulceby and major TransPennine Express destinations. ‘It is great to be working in partnership with TransPennine Express to deliver more integrated, customer-focused travel options and I’m sure the tickets will prove to be popular’, said Jenna Cowie, Interim Commercial Director at East Midlands Railway, on June 12.
Network Rail has awarded VolkerRail the £19·9m Tranche 6 contract for the renewal of signalling structures across the northwest of England, as a continuation of its Tranche 5 contract. Tranche 6A covers renewal of 24 structures and two gantries from Carlisle to the Cumbrian coast, Chester and Liverpool; 6B the renewal of 28 structures and six gantries on the West Coast Main Line north of Warrington; and 6C: early development and design for a series of semaphore signal renewals. Work is expected to be completed by July 2027.
The Welsh government’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport & North Wales Ken Skates has named Vernon Everitt, currently Transport Commissioner and Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester, as preferred candidate to be Chair of the Transport for Wales board. He is also a current non-executive director on the Transport for Wales board. The appointment is subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by the Senedd on June 19. ‘Vernon brings a wealth of transport experience from both Manchester and London, as well as already being very familiar with our priorities in Wales’, said Skates.
Kayleigh Spires is to join East West Rail in July as Industry Programme Director, tasked with strengthen the company’s links with Network Rail and other industry partners. She joins on secondment from Network Rail, where she has covered a variety of roles in sponsorship and programme delivery including Director for the National Access for All Programme, Head of the Programme Delivery Unit at Old Oak Common and as a Senior Sponsor on the Crossrail project.
Mott MacDonald has been re-appointed as the Department for Transport’s Futures & Foresight Support Advisor, embedding ‘futures thinking’ into strategic planning and decision-making processes to enable the department to explore long-term trends, uncertainties and emerging challenges. Mott MacDonald will be supported by a consortium of expert partners including City Science, Connected Economics, Reed Mobility, the School of International Futures, Systra and the University of the West of England.
Aecom has been reappointed to Transport for Greater Manchester Professional Services Framework for four years.
Northern’s app and website will offering add-on tram and bus travel with Blackpool Transport from July 7. Though tickets have been sold at stations since 2022.
Providing evidence to the Transport Select Committee’s Rail investment pipelines: ending boom & bust inquiry on June 11, Eurofima CEO Dr Christoph Pasternak said ‘Eurofima, as a supranational non-maximising profit organisation, can provide a cost-efficient, dependable source of financing to support UK rolling stock investment needs in a long-term, flexible and transparent way.’