Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Monday, 12th January 2026.
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Monday 12th January 2026
The construction of HS2 was always going to miss its delivery target because the plan was rushed by ministers, the government’s former infrastructure chief has said.
An article on the BBC website says Sir John Armitt, who ended his tenure as the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission on 31 December, believes the haste in drawing up the project’s blueprint hobbled it.
“They really hadn’t thought this through before it started. They wanted it to be the fastest rail network in Europe – but did we really need it?” he said.
HS2 bosses insisted significant progress was made in 2025, but just before Christmas its CEO Mark Wild confirmed the government’s revelation that opening the line by 2033 “cannot be achieved”.
Transport bosses have been warned they would lose ‘meaningful control’ over railway services in the West Midlands if a major deal isn’t renewed.
An article on the Birmingham Live website says the existing ‘collaboration agreement’ between West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) and the Department for Transport (DfT) is set to expire in February.
And members of the West Midlands Combined Authority board are being urged to vote in favour of a special resolution to see the arrangement continue.
Vandalism at a miniature railway has left volunteers “devastated”, the owner has said.
An article on the BBC website says Bob Brocklehurst, of Pugneys Light Railway in Wakefield, said volunteers turned up on Saturday to discover solar panels had been torn from a station hut and electrical wiring cut.
He said: “It brought lumps to my throat when I heard about it from the volunteers. It’s their lives, their happy place, everyone is really upset.”
Clifton railway bridge near Penrith has been replaced by Network Rail and Skanska as part of a £60m investment in the West Coast Main Line.
An article on Construction Enquirer says the new 130-metre-long structure was carefully manoeuvred into place with millimetre precision on Saturday.
To allow the huge civil engineering project to take place, two unprecedented 60-hour closures of the whole motorway were scheduled between junctions 39 and 40 over consecutive weekends.
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