Table of contents for Issue 1025 in RAIL

NO one could say 2024 wasn’t a big year for the rail industry: the election of a new government with a new strategy for rail; a new Department for Transport team (more than once for some); new legislation already moving through Parliament; budget cuts; HS2 progress; and much more. 2025 could be even bigger. Our RailReview articles in this issue include the formation of Shadow Great British Railways (SGBR), which is due to replace the GBR Transition Team that stops on April 1. Beyond that, precious little detail has been made public. Laura Shoaf was appointed Chair, and SGBR is technically up and running… but still taking shape. Paul Clifton talks to insiders who are close to the project to get the inside track on what’s happening (pages 56-59). What…

FIRSTGROUP is looking to take on the road market with its proposed open access service between London Paddington and Paignton. The company has applied to the Office of Rail and Road to start running services via Bath and Bristol, under its Lumo brand, from May 2028. Speaking to RAIL, First Rail Managing Director Steve Montgomery said the success of Lumo on the East Coast Main Line, where services have targeted the domestic airline market, is some-thing FirstGroup wants to re-create in the South West. “It’s looking at a market that’s under-served,” he said. “Lumo’s set-up on the Edinburgh to London route is about recognising the market to get people off airlines. It’s been very successful. “Paignton is very similar. We all know the roads going into that part of the…

A reduced Sunday service on Great Western Railway is expected to continue indefinitely, because there are not enough train crew to operate the full timetable. GWR said the solution “is not going to happen any time soon” and suggested that people should consider travelling on different days. Up to half the long-distance services between London Paddington, Wales and the West are being cancelled each Sunday. The operator is relying on crews volunteering to work because Sunday doesn’t count as part of their working week. But several drivers have said a recent pay deal means they do not need the extra money they earn by working on their rest days. The deal included an element of backdated pay for the previous two years, which means drivers received a lump sum in…

Research into a strategy to decarbonise the North Downs Line has found that electrifying parts of the route would provide ‘poor’ value for money. Network Rail and Great Western Railway are working on options to introduce battery-electric units to the 46-mile route between Reading and Redhill (of which 17 miles is over third rail), and to replace 34-year-old Class 165/166 diesel multiple units (DMUs) that need to be retired from the route by 2035. The joint report by NR and GWR has said that improving the rail offer could “encourage modal shift”. The route currently has a half-hourly service from Reading-Gatwick Airport, but the Traction Decarbonisation Strategy has looked at other potential options, including a third train each hour to Gatwick as well as extending services to cities such as…

Network Rail is set to reactivate the large screen at London Euston station, as part of a trial to provide clearer and more visible travel information for passengers. In a response to passenger feedback calling for a larger, central information point, the former advertising board will be repurposed to display live updates on train services. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “We’ve been clear the station simply hasn’t been good enough for customers. That’s why we recently tasked Network Rail with making immediate improvements.” The screens were installed last January, as part of an overhaul of the concourse which included the removal of the old departure information screens. Safety at Euston was thrust into the spotlight in September, with campaign group TravelWatch highlighting that it thought passengers were in danger of…

The Office of Rail and Road says its new assessment of train operating companies’ and Network Rail’s passenger assistance delivery performance will help hold operators to account. It is currently holding a consultation on its plans. ORR is proposing to assess operators on its actual delivery of assistance for disabled passengers alongside its future planning on making improvements. They will be ranked as Upper, Middle or Lower, with indicators of whether an operator’s performance is improving or worsening also being planned. The consultation is due to close on February 14.…

A search has begun to discover the longest-serving railway family in the UK, as part of the Railway 200 celebrations. So far, the longest-serving family dates back to 1846, when Andrew Lamport’s great-great-grandfather joined the original South Western Railway as a porter in Richmond. Andrew (27) is now a guard for South Western Railway, based at London Waterloo. Staff claiming railway ancestry further back than April 1846 are invited to email railway200@gbrtt.co.uk.…

Balfour Beatty has implemented a modification to both its Class 20s (20901/905), by fitting a galvanised conduit to run the wires to power the cess lights. It’s in a T-shape and comes from under the locomotives’ headlights. The plan to fit blue star multiple working cable to the wagons is likely to be undertaken early in the new year. The train has been in big demand, meaning that BB has not been able to stand the wagons down to carry out this change. Once done, it will allow the trains to have both Class 20s powering when on the move. Currently, just the lead locomotive works with the rear ‘20’ left idling. ■ For a feature on the Drain Trains, see RAIL 1026.…

Contributions for by far the UK’s most published column by the same author - now in its 43rd year - are most welcome from all sources. Personal observations, society magazines, website printouts and live links, transport group newsletters and media cuttings (with dates, please) are sought to maintain topicality. Please email your contributions direct to hj@howardjohnston.co.uk, or rail@bauermedia.co.uk WESTERN Bath: Troublesome flooding in the 447-yard Devonshire Tunnel, which now forms part of a 13-mile cycleway and walkway on the old Somerset & Dorset route, may be resolved by new pumps being installed by Sustrans. Newquay: Track laying into the new platform was carried out while services were suspended over the branch between November 19-December 12. Palm trees displaced by the redevelopment have been donated to the Lappa Valley Railway. Oxford:…

THE next train to leave Platform 17 is the 1039 to… Platform 15. Sure enough, at 1039, Class 153 153385 departed and ran the few hundred yards into Liverpool Street station throat, and then into Platform 15 after its driver changed ends. Of course, there was no public announcement of this move, nor of 153385’s several more visits to Liverpool Street that morning as it shuttled back and forth over the final few miles of the Great Eastern Main Line. The unit is one of Network Rail’s fleet of three video inspection units (VIUs), equipped with forward-facing cameras and a second battery of linescan cameras slung underneath to record the state of the track in millimetre detail. It also records track geometry via sensors fitted to its bogies. All at…

Some final thoughts from the team at RAIL @RAIL Send contributions to: mike.wright@bauermedia.co.uk Transport for Wales named one of its Class 231 units Gavin & Stacey in early December, ahead of the screening of the last-ever episode of the BBC comedy, which was set to be broadcast on Christmas Day. Local children from Barry Island Primary School took part in the special event, welcoming the newly named train to Barry Island station. The TfW announcement managed to squeeze in a few catchphrases from the show (which is set on Barry Island), describing the increase in passenger numbers on the Vale of Glamorgan line as “proper tidy”. Lis Burnett, the leader of Vale of Glamorgan Council, described the train as “lush”. A new artwork exhibition has been delivered at London Marylebone…

THE man behind Grand Union Trains is planning a new open access service on the South Western Main Line from May 2026. Ian Yeowart’s Alliance Rail (Southern) is starting industry consultation to run an hourly service between Marchwood (on the Fawley branch) and Southampton Central, with every other train continuing to London Waterloo. All trains would call at Totton, while intermediate stops to Waterloo would be Southampton Airport Parkway, Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke and Hook. Additional stops at Woking and Wimbledon are also being considered. If approved, it would lead to the return of passenger services along the Fawley branch (known as the Waterside line) for the first time since 1966. Plans to reopen the line, which was part of the previous government’s Restoring Your Railway programme, received widespread support from…

FirstGroup says it has “clear plans to navigate the evolving market”, as it presented an upbeat set of half-year results to shareholders. Among changes in both its rail and bus businesses due to nationalisation and franchising respectively, it eyes growth in open access rail, plus portfolio diversification and margin improvement in bus, to fill the forthcoming loss over the next three years of its three Department for Transport National Rail Contracts (NRCs). Rail (including open access) and bus operations account for a 60-40 profit split. In 2021, NRCs accounted for the majority of group profits. This is now down to 21%. In contrast, in the next few years First’s growing open access rail will treble from one billion to three billion seat miles a year. Expansion continues in First Bus,…

Procurement to replace the last HSTs used on long-distance intercity services has begun. The Scottish government announced on December 17 that it is now planning for new trains to take over ScotRail’s fleet of 25 ex-Great Western Railway sets operating between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness. Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop confirmed the start of the process, in response to a question from Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central, SNP). A contract is due to be awarded in 2025. Hyslop said: “In the meantime, the HSTs remain safe to run until a replacement fleet is ready. “They are needed for the capacity required by ScotRail to deliver an appropriate service level. As the replacement trains arrive, the HSTs will be withdrawn.” The Scottish government is also refreshing its Decarbonisation Action Plan,…

WORK begins at Old Oak Common this Christmas to reposition the Great Western Main Line, as HS2 continues work on the conventional main line station. Paddington station will be closed between December 27 and 29, to enable work to start on the line. The track is being repositioned some 50 metres to the north, bringing it closer to the HS2 station. Repositioning the GWML is a complex and often overlooked part of the wider Old Oak Common build. Over the coming years, it will involve building a new bridge over Old Oak Common Lane and another over London Underground’s Central Line, as well as widening the HS2 approach just north of the site. The latter is because the current layout’s sharp turn will not be suitable for HS2 trains. Peter…

HS2 Ltd has named the teams that will deliver the project’s track, signalling and communication systems. The contracts are collectively worth £3 billion. Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall JV will be responsible for the design and construction of the track, as well as the testing and commissioning phases. Rail will be supplied by Network Rail. The overhead catenary systems (OCS) will be delivered by Colas Rail. It will be using the V360 OCS design range under licence from SNCF Reseau, the first to be certified up to 360kph (220 mph). Siemens Mobility has secured contracts for Signalling and Traffic Management, and Engineering Management.…

RAIL Minister Lord Hendy has told MPs on the Transport Select Committee that he is in favour of discontinuous electrification on the East West Rail line. Hendy told the committee that he thought it was a “brilliant solution” to the issue, adding: “Having lived through the Great Western electrification upgrade, which was extraordinarily expensive and probably over-specified, I think anything which looks at electrification on a simpler, more practical way is absolutely fabulous.” His comments come after EWR announced in November that it was conducting a public consultation on plans for the new line between Bedford and Cambridge, as well as improvements to the line between Bletchley and Bedford. Those plans include not fully electrifying the line between Bedford and Cambridge and placing an order for hybrid-electric trains. The consultation…

DCRail has started operating a new cross-London freight flow that takes between 40 and 50 lorries off the road every time it runs. The freight operator is moving recycled road material (known as reclaimed asphalt pavement, RAP) for Aggregate Industries between Colnbook (just west of Heathrow) and Purfleet in Essex. The turns started in October, with three trains running between Thursday and Sunday via north London. The new flow is on a when-required basis, with several weeks sometimes passing between each series of trains. Damien Preece, general manager for rail at Aggregate Industries, said: “It’s very short haul, where rail shouldn’t be able to work going from west to east London.” Trains are limited to 14 box wagons owing to the siding length at Purfleet. But each still carries 1,050…

Siemens Mobility has received the green light to proceed with its £100 million investment in a new rail infrastructure, digital engineering, and research and development facility at Chippenham (Wiltshire). Construction is set to begin early next year, led by contractor Bowmer + Kirkland. Siemens has had plans to build the new factory at Southpoint Business Park for nearly five years, but had to revise them after Wiltshire County Council raised concerns over speed control in the area and the factory’s sustainability. Siemens has addressed these concerns, and construction of the new factory can now go ahead. The company has a long history in the Wiltshire town, with signalling contractor Evans O’Donnell founding a factory at Siemens Mobility’s current Langley Park site in 1897. The site became part of Siemens Mobility…

Network Rail says the line along Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight will reopen in May next year, following the latest nine-month closure. The infrastructure owner says the £19 million work to secure the pier’s safety remains on schedule, despite recent bad weather. Ryde Pier connects the 8.5-mile line from Shanklin with ferries to and from Portsmouth. The entire Island Line closed for a month in September, when work to both track and trains was completed. But the section along the pier will remain closed all winter, while large parts of the rusting metal structure are replaced. “We have delivered 23 of the 26 spans. Within each span, we are renewing the rail bearers, the sleepers and the rail,” said George Murrell, renewals director for Network Rail’s Wessex Region.…

As this issue of RAIL went to press, strike action that had been due to take place on December 22, 23 and 29 was suspended while RMT members voted on a fresh offer from Avanti West Coast. The dispute centres on the difference between what Avanti pays Senior Train Managers and Train Managers when asked to work on rest days, often on trains running at unsociable hours. It’s claimed the difference in pay can be as much as £300. In an RMT e-referendum on the offer to reduce that gap, 92.8% rejected the proposals (on a turnout of 81%). According to the union, the new offer is understood to involve “revised and enhanced Rest Day working agreements”, alongside the creation of a rest-day working allocation agreement. An AWC spokesperson said:…

Class 08 shunters owned by spot hire companies and freight operating companies have been moved around the country to meet business needs. All the transfers have been undertaken by road transport. Rail Support Services 08507 moved from Wishaw to Tees Dock on December 3. On the same day, Freightliner’s recently overhauled and repainted 08531 was collected from the Nemesis Rail facility at Burton and taken to Freightliner’s Ipswich depot, allowing 08691 to be released and moved to Burton. On December 5, Freightliner’s 08530 was collected from the LH Group services (Wabtec) site at Barton-under-Needwood and taken to Southampton Maritime, allowing 08785 to leave Southampton and move to Burton on December 5/6. Eastern Rail Services has bought 08822 from Great Western Railway, and the shunter was transported from Bristol St Philips…

Beacon Rail has been moving Mk 5 coaches to Wolverton, in preparation for assessment for use by Chiltern Railways. Industry sources suggest the movement of set TP10 on December 2 is in readiness for Chiltern taking on at least nine Mk 5 sets (which could be six-car sets), to be worked by hired Class 68s. 37611 Denise worked the 1045 Long Marston-Wolverton Centre Sidings, via Stafford. The following day, 68029 moved set TP04 from Longsight to Long Marston and returned with set TP09 as the 1544 Long Marston to Longsight TMD. Sets TP02/06 remain at Longsight.…

The government remains noncommittal on whether it will continue to fund the previous government’s Access for All (AfA) programme. The station improvements, funded by the Department for Transport, make it easier for wheelchair users and others with mobility issues and/or heavy luggage to use trains. On May 24, the Conservative government announced £350 million (from the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2) for 50 more stations to be upgraded under AfA. This was in addition to 73 stations it had announced in 2019 for Control Period 6 (CP6, 2019-24), although that figure included 27 stations that had already been deferred from CP5 (2014-19). At the time (2019), the DfT said that all 73 stations would be “completed by March 31 2024”. Asked directly in the Commons by Priti Patel (Conservative, Witham)…

“I made a promise to the workforce of the Newton Aycliffe factory and today, I’m delivering on that promise.” So said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on a visit to Hitachi’s factory on December 6. He was celebrating Hitachi winning a deal to build 14 five-car trains - great news for a factory that’s been facing an uncertain future, as its order book dwindled to nothing. Yet Starmer’s claim stands little scrutiny when faced with the reality that this welcome order comes from a private open access operator ordering trains with funding from a private rolling stock company. The only slight claim his government has is that it’s not wiped open access operators from the rail map while it extinguishes private operators working to government contracts (what we once called…

Despite the change in Transport Secretary, it is clear that the government’s rail reform programme is rolling on. The timetable for ending the first three franchises has been announced, and some details of the new arrangements are starting to emerge. As Paul Clifton’s article makes clear (see pages 56-59), big uncertainties remain and the timetable for progress may slip, but this might be a good time to look at the main issues which Great British Railways and those legislating for it will need to grasp. I think there are at least three main issues GBR faces. Firstly, reform must mean real improvements for passengers. The starting point has to be getting the basics right -improving performance and running what one commentator has called a “boringly reliable railway”. A focus on…

2 WAYS TO SEND RAIL YOUR VIEWS & OPINIONS WRITE TO US: RAIL, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough Business Park, Peterborough PE2 6EA. EMAIL US: rail@bauermedia.co.uk POLICY New priorities needed for major transport projects I welcome the very sensible suggestion by Christian Wolmar, when he says that we should change the way we assess major transport projects (RAIL 1020). The current method by HM Treasury and the Department for Transport of simply developing a business case from savings in journey times is inadequate in describing the many facets of a transport project and its benefits. It offers a view of one side of the project, but on its own it delivers results that are highly skewed towards road building over rail investment. It also benefits rail investment in the…

A deadline for securing brand new rolling stock was one of the reasons behind the decision to sell Grand Union’s London Paddington-Carmarthen open access rights to FirstGroup. The transport operator announced the acquisition of Grand Union Trains GWML Holdings Limited and Grand Union Trains No. 2 Limited in early December. The purchase comes three months after it completed a similar deal for the open access operator’s planned London Euston-Stirling service. Grand Union was originally given approval by the Office of Rail and Road in December 2022 for ten-year track rights to run five trains a day to South Wales, starting two years later. How-ever, in the summer of 2023 that was put back to December 2027. ORR had also imposed a deadline of November 31 2024 to order rolling stock…

PASSENGER trains on the Northumberland line have begun running again after a gap of more than 60 years. At 0757 on Sunday December 15, a pair of Class 158 diesel multiple units (DMUs) left Newcastle with the first fare-paying passenger service for Ashington. Passenger services along the route had been withdrawn on July 30 1964, during the Beeching cuts, although tracks remained in situ for freight trains serving the Port of Blyth and Lynemouth Power Station. The £298.5 million project has upgraded 12 miles of railway between Benton Junction (where it meets the East Coast Main Line) and Ashington - including renewing track, upgrading signalling, and modifying 24 level crossings to improve safety. Eventually, the 18-mile route will serve stations at Ashington, Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval and Northumberland…

The government has outlined further plans for devolution for English regions, with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner releasing its English Devolution White Paper on December 16. The White Paper outlines plans to strengthen the ability of Mayoral authorities to develop a regional integrated transport network alongside new fiscal rules. Under the new Devolution Framework, local authorities will be encouraged to take more responsibility for their region’s rail network. It will also give mayors the option to control railway stations, as well having a stronger say on timetabling and possible routes under the new legislations. Local authorities will also have a consolidated funding pot for transport, allowing for greater flexibility regarding contactless ticket travel, such as the system used in Greater London. Data will also be shared across the regions via…

Hull has been chosen for the site of a new logistics hub for HS2, becausae it is one of only a few sites with sufficient land for long sidings connected to the rail network. At around 100 miles from the nearest point on the new high-speed line, Hull will become the base for voestalpine, which has won a contract to supply high-speed switches, signalling technology and plant monitoring applications. HS2 Ltd said: “The contract includes the design, manufacture and delivery of around 180 switches and crossings which will be installed between London and the connection with the West Coast Main Line at Crewe. “Designed to operate smoothly, reliably and safely at speeds of up to 360kph (223mph) and diverging speeds up to 230kph (143mph), the switches and crossings will be…

Cheshire East Council has voted to ‘provisionally support’ the two rail schemes being proposed by the Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool local authorities - if they are re-worked so that Crewe and Cheshire East benefit. Councillors said at a meeting on December 13 that the elected mayors of the cities had “insulted’ the county by planning to build two major schemes in the county that didn’t directly benefit it. The first scheme is the proposed Liverpool to Manchester railway section of Northern Powerhouse Rail, which has no direct connectivity for the Cheshire East. The second is the Midlands to North West Rail Link, in which new services could potentially bypass the station.…

PD Ports and Direct Rail Services are launching a new intermodal service between Teesport and Trafford Park Manchester. Beginning on February 3 2025, it will operate five days each week. A key feature of the service will be the use of IDA low-profile bogie flat wagons that can transport high-cube boxes across areas of the UK previously inaccessible by rail. Without the use of IDA wagons, high-cube containers (which measure 9ft 6in in height compared with the standard 8ft 6in) can only be transported to many areas of the country by road rather than rail, because of low bridges, tunnels and stations. Geoff Lippitt, PD Ports’ Group Commercial and Strategy Director, said: “This new service seeks to meet the demands of modern-day supply chains. “High-cube containers enable customers to reduce…

HS2 Ltd Chair Sir Jon Thompson is to step down from his position in spring 2025. Thompson will leave his role just under two years after taking up the helm in February 2023. Prior to that, he had sat on HS2 Ltd’s board. He also assumed the role of chief executive after the resignation of Mark Thurston in September 2023, running the company until Mark Wild’s appointment. During his tenure, Thompson has seen costs continue to rise for the project. A recent report estimates that it could cost up to £66 billion - a £7.5bn increase from last year’s estimate. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “He has provided strong leadership during challenging times for the project, and we are grateful for his service.”…

A start has been made on sending the final few Merseyrail Class 507s for scrap. On December 2, 37800 Cassiopeia worked the 0554 Birkenhead North EMUD-Newport Docks, taking 507007/018 to Sims Group for scrapping. That left just 507001 (which is destined for preservation) and 507003/023/029 to leave the Merseyrail network. The former is set to be displayed at some of the Railway 200 events before moving to the Tanat Valley Light Railway, while the other three units will head for scrap. All the ‘507s’ were owned by Angel Trains.…

RAIL freight leaders have expressed concern at losing vital track access capacity through Manchester, if local transport leaders increase the number of urban passenger services running in the city over the coming years. Speaking at an All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group meeting on December 9, dedicated to discussing devolution in rail, Rail Freight Group Director General Maggie Simpson warned that freight operators are “incredibly nervous” about the government devolving control of passenger services to local regions. “They are going to investment boards to build new terminals and new rolling stock, but they fear they’re about to be kicked off the network in anywhere that looks like a city,” Simpson told MPs. “We have an opportunity to get the governance right to make rail freight a shared joy, rather than something Great…

CROSSCOUNTRY has launched its new Cardiff-Edinburgh service, reconnecting the two capital cities by rail for the first time this century. A Welsh male voice choir serenaded the 0945 departure from Cardiff Central on December 16, as the four-car Class 220 began the 455-mile journey to Scotland. Four hours later, a bagpiper played before the southbound service left Edinburgh Waverley. One train each weekday now links the two cities, with the northbound service joining the 0628 from Penzance at Birmingham New Street, and arriving at Edinburgh at 1708. The southbound 1307 to Cardiff and Plymouth service splits at Gloucester, arriving at 2007 and 2151 respectively. Bethan Jelfs, CrossCountry’s Regional Director for West & Wales, said it had been an aspiration for the operator for some time to connect Wales, England and…

ASSEMBLY of the 33 five-car bi-mode units for East Midlands Railways continues, with units up to 810025 already in the workshops at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe site. Currently, bodyshells for units 810024/025 are on the weld line. This facility, established with support from Hitachi Italy, is crucial for ensuring the structural integrity. In the paint shop are bodyshells for 810022/023, which are undergoing a meticulous process to ensure a high-quality finish. The steps include cleaning via shot blasting, primer application, putty application, additional primer, top coat, and finally the finish and polish procedure. Once painted, the units move to the Assembly Hall. Here, cars enter the pre-line and progress through various assembly stations where insulation, flooring, doors, toilets, and catering facilities are installed. The mega rack, which includes wiring and pneumatic…

Two more ex-Direct Rail Service Class 37/4s have been returned to full main line registration after repairs, and are now available for spot hire. Europhoenix 37423 ran light on December 4 with 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer, as the 1316 Loughborough Brush-Derby RTC. It then entered traffic on December 9, when it took a rake of coaches for Class 93 testing as the 0714 Derby RTC-Burton Wetmore Sidings. It then ran light to Worksop and collected 93001 as the 1330 Worksop Down Yard-Crewe South Yard. Also returning to use, following a repaint, is Sheaf Engineering 37402 (which has been renamed Oor Wullie), which ran light with Harry Needle Railroad Company 37405 as the 1730 Barrow Hill-Derby RTC. 37402 is going on hire to Colas Rail and is likely to be used on…

EVERSHOLT Rail is preparing to dispose of its 30 Class 321 ‘Renatus’ electric multiple units, even though they were completely rebuilt with new traction equipment and smart interiors at a cost of £60 million, and only worked for five years. The train leasing company admits there have been no takers - either in the UK or overseas - for the four-car sets, which have been idle for almost 18 months since they were replaced on electrified Greater Anglia outer-suburban services into Essex by new Bombardier/Alstom Class 720s. The ‘321s’ are parked up in ‘warm store’ at Wembley and Warrington. An Eversholt spokesperson told RAIL: “We have actively sought to remarket the ‘Renatus’ units for some time, but have been unable to secure a lease for the fleet either in whole…

THE control centre of the Shinkansen, the world’s first high-speed railway, is surprisingly low-tech. On the wall, the display of the line is distinctly 20th century rather than 21st, with no colour and little detail. Even the computer screens look as if they are just one generation ahead of Amstrad. The controllers, all male with one exception, are standing about and poring over screens as in any other control centre. But there are surprisingly a lot of them, and one is busily photocopying vast amounts of documents -something of a rarity in the UK nowadays, given the emphasis on paperless. But the way that the trains are being run from this small, crowded, windowless office does illustrate a fundamental aspect of the Shinkansen. It does not boast about being the…

Kents Bank Station is unique. As well as its award-winning gardens, it is home to a vast library of railway books and to an art gallery, The Beach Hut. While the latter is well-established, the Railway Library is quite new, opened by Lord Peter Hendy (when chairman of Network Rail) in January 2024. The station’s history dates back to 1857, when the Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway opened, connecting into the West Coast Main Line at Carnforth. The railway replaced the perilous ‘over sands’ crossing which cost the lives of hundreds of travellers over the centuries. The first station was a modest affair, and it closed for a short time in the early 1860s owing to lack of custom. However, it reopened shortly afterwards and its new owner, the Furness Railway,…

Within the past few weeks, the government has assumed direct responsibility for Britain’s railways. This is a watershed moment for the industry. The private sector has lost the argument over nationalisation, and the focus will shift towards safe implementation. But that doesn’t mean it is wrong about the principles. The government - and Shadow Great British Railways - must now be held to account for improving the service for passengers. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill received Royal Assent at the end of November. Despite the hiccup of a change of Transport Secretary, the King’s signature triggered notice being given a few days later to the first three train operators that their contracts are ending, and that they are being transferred to the newly renamed Department for Transport’s operator…

As I sat down to write this column, an email pinged into my inbox from the government’s daily update service, heralding “How the government is reforming the railways to put passengers first”. Now, I do understand how to write an attention-grabbing headline, but I wonder if the Department for Transport is missing a trick by its persistent exclusion of freight from the narrative. The update, a sensible and coherent statement given to Parliament on rail reform, set out a number of positive steps being taken in the passenger railway. But it was totally silent on freight. It could, for example, have highlighted the very positive move to discount track access charges for new freight services, recently introduced by Network Rail. Surely Parliamentarians would see that as a positive action from…

US rail provider Amtrak has lately found itself in some unexpected and exclusive company. In 2023, Amtrak earned a place on Forbes’ 2023 list of best employers for new graduates for the second year in a row, joining some of America’s most recognisable, fastest-rising and progressive brands. Appearing on the Forbes list of best employers for new graduates bodes well for Amtrak’s (and the rail industry’s) ability to attract and hold on to younger workers during an ongoing talent crunch. But it also underscores the urgency with which rail companies must address that talent shortage, and the challenge for them to attract members of Gen Z and its successor, Generation Alpha. Rail operators have several advantages when competing for younger talent. They offer what’s perceived as a steady, stable career…

A production gap at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe rolling stock assembly plant has been filled by an order for 14 five-car trainsets for use by FirstGroup on existing and approved open access services, with an option for a further 13 sets if regulatory approval is given for further new routes. It resolves the need for Hitachi to mothball its production line until the assembly of HS2 rolling stock starts. The need for vehicles follows First’s acquisition of the Grand Union company that holds access rights to start new services between Stirling and Euston and between Carmarthen and Paddington. The initial agreement was finalised in August, with the South Wales services following in December, ending uncertainty about the provision of rolling stock to operate the agreed timetable. The earlier expectation was that…

WELCOME to the RAIL Crossword. In this issue, our successful solver can go back in time and ‘chase steam’ courtesy of the History Press (https://thehistorypress.co.uk). By 1966, the steam locomotive appeared to be entering its death throes. Withdrawals were being carried out at a frenetic pace, with the slightest defect sending engines straight to the cutter’s torch. In an attempt to capture the British steam scene before it was no more, teenage enthusiast Keith Widdowson made it his mission to travel the length and breadth of the country to obtain runs behind as many locomotives as possible. Armed with a Southern Region season ticket and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow devotees, Keith quickly amassed many catches and great mileage, with numerous overnight and lengthy expeditions to the north of England…