Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 14th May 2021
The latest rail news on Friday, 14th May 2021
Hitachi Rail, train operators, and government have agreed, with oversight from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), a service recovery plan to safely reintroduce more 800 Series and 385 Series trains to the network.
The fleet of 800 series trains was removed from service as a precaution at the weekend when cracks were found on some trains.
Following extensive safety checks on their trains, TransPennine Express, Hull Trains and ScotRail have been able to operate services across all of their routes since last weekend.
After further rigorous safety checks involving ORR’s HM Railway Inspectorate, GWR and LNER will now begin reintroducing trains with a more regular service for passengers.
Women in Transport is pleased to announce the election of Jo Field as its new President, succeeding Katie Hulland.
Jo’s election for a four-year term was confirmed at Women in Transport’s Annual General Meeting held yesterday.
Commenting on her appointment as President, Jo said: “I am a passionate campaigner for gender equality and I bring this energy and expertise to the role.”
Following the highly successful Rail SPEED Conference on 26 February, introduced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Network Rail and the Railway Industry Association (RIA) are holding a FREE follow-up event to explore some of the work that underpins SPEED in more detail.
The session will be held on Thursday 20 May online.
The workshop will look at the PACE, Standards Challenge and Timetabling workstreams, and build on the cross-industry engagement from the February conference.
Finally, a train operator has said its conductors will be told to stop using the phrase “Ladies and gentlemen” following a complaint from a non-binary passenger.
The article features in several of the newspapers including The Daily Telegraph, that says LNER said train managers would be warned not to use the greeting to avoid offending passengers who might identify as neither male nor female.
A spokesman for the operator revealed the policy in response to a complaint on social media. In a later statement, LNER confirmed that the use of the phrase would be reviewed, adding it was “committed to diversity and inclusion in all we do”.
Photo credit: Railway Industry Association
