Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Monday, 7th November 2022
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Monday, 7th November 2022
Planned rail strikes for today have been cancelled after the RMT said it had secured ‘unconditional’ talks with Network Rail, an article from the Metro reports.
The union, which represents 80,000 workers, will now enter into a ‘period of intensive negotiations’ with the company and rail operators.
Network Rail said that despite the cancelling of strike action, the very late notice means that many services for today cannot be reinstated and will remain extremely limited, adding that passengers should only travel by rail if absolutely necessary.
Delayed rail services have cost ScotRail more than £400,000 in compensation in the first six months of the service’s nationalisation, figures show.
An article from the Scottish Herald said ScotRail paid out £406,686 in total from April 1 to October 15, according to data obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats using freedom of information requests.
Phil Campbell, the operator’s head of customer operations, said Scotrail was “absolutely committed” to providing the best possible service for its customers and that it was only right that passengers were compensated for delays.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced it will be replacing its current method of calculating the value of penalty fares and introducing a surcharge of £100 on top of the price of the applicable single fare, which will be reduced to £50 if paid within 21 days.
In addition, the appeals process – which was introduced in 2018 – will remain, and any appeal will ‘stop the clock’ on the 21-day period during which a reduced charge is able to be paid.
The response comes after a consultation was held last year which received 173 responses from individuals and organisations. A separate consultation remains open on whether changes to the value and formula of a Penalty Fare should be able to be varied considering the circumstances of the penalty.
Finally, serving military personnel and veterans attending Remembrance Sunday events will be able to travel for free on all South Western Railway (SWR) services, an article from Wiltshire Live reports.
The offer, which is being funded by the Department for Transport, is available to anyone who is travelling in uniform or able to show an appropriate form of identification.
A spokesperson for SWR said the offer was its way of paying tribute to both current and previous generations of servicemen and women and to honour their sacrifice, with many SWR colleagues also coming from a service background.
