This week’s round-up of business news from the UK railway industry.
East Midlands Railway has unveiled the first of 26 Class 158 DMUs to receive an interior refresh in an £5·2m programme. This includes a deep clean of all passenger areas, new seat foams and covers with high-durability branded fabrics, new tabletops, carpets, vestibule flooring, and CCTV and forward-facing cameras with remote download capabilities. The programme is scheduled to be completed by June 2026, with work taking place at Arriva TrainCare in Bristol for Angel Trains owned units and EMR’s Eastcroft Depot in Nottingham for Porterbrook units.
Recycling specialist J Denham Metals Ltd is scrapping the original Tyne & Wear Metro train fleet near Bishop Auckland, the first passenger trains that it has decommissioned. ‘We’re really pleased that they’re being disposed of sustainably and responsibly and that some of the metal from them will get a second life and go on to support other industries’, said Paul Patrick, Managing Director of Stadler Rail Service UK. Two trainsets will be preserved at the Stephenson Steam Railway and Beamish Museum.
Northern is offering Scarborough Athletic FC fans 25% off advanced purchase tickets for travel to games which are to be held at Bridlington Town’s ground while the Scarborough Sports Village is closed because of subsidence. Members of the club and season pass holders can request discount codes by contacting the club directly. ‘As a 100% fan-owned football club our finances depend on supporters making the journey to watch the team’, said Scarborough Athletic Chairman Trevor Bull.
AmcoGiffen and Safety Shield Global have launched the Site Team Reporting & Emergency Accident Management app, which uses human form recognition tailored to specific site dimensions and plant operations to provide a warning if someone encroaches into camera-monitored danger zones around construction plant. AmcoGiffen is rolling out STREAM across all its sites, and the app will also be made available for other Safety Shield clients.
From August 19 to 28 Transport for Wales is offering customers a limited-time promotion fare of £1 for pay-as-you-go travel between the 95 PAYG enabled stations in southeast Wales. ‘We hope that this promotion will really encourage existing and new customers to give PAYG a try, travel on our services through the cheapest means possible and inspire confidence in using the technology more regularly’, said TfW Chief Commercial Officer Alexia Course. ‘Whilst this ticketing method is currently exclusive to South Wales for the moment, we are excited to be exploring how we can roll it out across North Wales as a part of the Network North Wales project.’
On August 18 Northern opened a station building containing a ticket office, waiting room and toilets at Lea Green station, along with a multi-storey car park which more than doubles the park-and-ride capacity to 450 vehicles. The project forms part of St Helens Borough Council’s £15m St Helens Southern Gateway programme and was funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Transforming Cities Fund.
c2c says it is the first train operating company to join the Stamp Out Spiking campaign dedicated to tackling drink spiking and supporting victims.
East Midlands Railway has partnered with Yorkshire Ambulance Service to train more staff at Sheffield station in life-saving skills. The First Responder course includes cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, operating a defibrillator and administering oxygen.
Sellafield Ltd has directly awarded its long-term railway maintenance contractor Trackwork a £180 220 contract to provide labour, plant and materials for urgent remedial repairs to the rail network at the nuclear site.
Colas Rail UK has been awarded the gold award from the Armed Forces Covenant’s Employer Recognition Scheme which recognises a commitment to supporting armed forces communities into the workforce.