This week’s round-up of business news from the UK railway industry.
Aura Brand Solutions provided 3M wraps for several vehicles displayed at The Greatest Gathering event, and worked with Alstom’s French design team to provide navigation, branding and accessibility signage for the Derby site.
The Office of Rail & Road has authorised the putting into use of significant upgrades which have been undertaken at Lea Green station in St Helens, including a new station building and a multi-storey car park which more than doubles parking capacity. ORR said it worked closely with Network Rail’s Safety Review Panel to support Northern, which operates the station on behalf of Merseyrail, and the wider project team, through the authorisation process. Northern shared its final documentation on August 4, and ORR gave its authorisation on August 7.
DB Cargo UK’s Toton Traction Maintenance Depot has started work to fit ETCS to nine Class 66 locomotives as part of the East Coast Digital Programme. Siemens Mobility is responsible for designing, integrating and installing its Trainguard 200 Onboard unit onto freight locomotives to support in-cab digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line.
Umesh Chowdhary, Managing Director of Indian rolling stock manufacturer Titagarh Rail Systems, has welcomed the India-UK free trade agreement, calling it ‘a pivotal milestone in strengthening bilateral ties and unlocking shared avenues of growth’.
The Office of Rail & Road is to commission a comparative review of how selected European rail infrastructure managers manage the approval of new products, components and technologies for use on their networks. This will assess the governance, efficiency, safety assurance, responsiveness to innovation and overall burden on suppliers, with the aim of identifying best practice and lessons that the ORR can use to inform oversight of Network Rail’s product approval regime and regulatory expectations.
TransPennine Express passengers can now donate their delay repay compensation to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, St Abbs Lifeboat and Humber Rescue.
Schaltbau and SPII are to supply electrical contactors and IntelliDesk driving desks for ‘a major high speed railway project in the United Kingdom’.
c2c is to use OneAdvanced software to for contract and supplier management.
Researchers at Birmingham City University have been awarded £50 000 to use real-time data, international best practice and AI tools to produce decision-making support systems and practical policy guidance to help make transport systems greener and more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The project is funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council with support from UKRI and DfT under National Hub for Decarbonised, Adaptable & Resilient Transport Infrastructures. ‘We can use this technology to anticipate vulnerabilities, optimise maintenance, and guide low-carbon investments, our project will help protect commuters, freight operators and local businesses from service interruptions and financial losses’, said Dr Syed Attique Shah, Senior Lecturer in Smart Computer Systems.
Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s Rail business Mick Rayner has been appointed to the board of the Rail Safety & Standards Board as an industry non-executive director representing infrastructure contractors and their concerns.
Johnny Schute is to retire as RSSB Chief Operating Officer in April 2026. ‘After a full military career serving across many operational theatres, I have been privileged to spend 10 fascinating and stimulating years in the rail sector’, he said. ‘The last seven have been at RSSB which could not have been more professionally rewarding and enjoyable, working with an outstanding team dedicated to making rail safer and better.’