Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 12th August 2022
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Friday, 12th August 2022
The government has been accused of “washing its hands of responsibility” after Avanti West Coast slashed its intercity timetable and suspended ticket operations over the summer period.
Labour’s shadow transport minister Louise Haigh told Sky News it is a “disgrace major cities are being cut off” following the operator’s decision to reduce its routes connecting London to places including Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
The Department for Transport (DfT) is set to respond to a request from local leaders calling for a meeting to discuss the full reinstatement of the services, or failing that, a withdrawal of the operator’s contract.
Avanti has suspended ticket sales for travel from this Sunday until 11 September while a new schedule is finalised.
The Rail Delivery Group is warning passengers to only travel by train if it is absolutely necessary as some parts of the country will have little or no rail services during next week’s industrial action.
Repeated coordinated strike action by the RMT and TSSA unions will mean only around a fifth of services will run on approximately half of the network on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August.
The RDG said “thousands of specially-trained and fully qualified back-up staff” will step in during the walkouts to keep essential services running.
A Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report into a train crash in Kirkby says it happened because the driver was distracted by their mobile phone and their bag falling to the floor.
The accident took place on the evening of Saturday 13 March, when a Merseyrail train hit the buffer stop at Kirkby station, Merseyside.
The RAIB’s report said the accident occurred because the driver of the train did not apply the brakes in time. The driver was checked into hospital as a precaution, and nobody was hurt.
Finally, An Indian lawyer who was overcharged 21p for a train ticket has won a 22-year-long court battle for his refund, Metro News reports.
Tungath Chatuverdi had sued North East Railway (Gorakhpur) – a section of the Indian Railways, after he was charged 90 rupees for two tickets that should have cost 70.
Mr Chatuverdi attended more than 100 court hearings over the years and said the case took so long because of the slow pace of the Indian justice system.
He was finally given the money back last week, along with two decades worth of interest – a grand total of £2.90.
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