Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Tuesday, 14th November 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Tuesday, 14th November 2023
Workers’ leaders and Northern business chiefs today call for an urgent boost to rail links across the region, warning: “We cannot afford any more delay.”
An article in The Mirror says the Trades Union Congress and Northern Powerhouse Partnership issued an unprecedented joint statement demanding improvements to vital connections are accelerated.
Their intervention, to mark a major summit of Northern Mayors, transport industry bosses and other political figures in Manchester, comes just six weeks after Rishi Sunak scrapped plans for the HS2 railway to run to Manchester.
The cost of building two new railway stations in Walsall is set to rocket by more than £15 million, developers say.
An article on the BBC website says the potential budget rise for stations in Willenhall and Darlaston follows the collapse of the original contractor Buckingham Group.
The scheme was saved when Kier Transportation bought Buckingham’s rail division.
But it has led to the project’s delay for more than a year and costs to spiral by nearly £15.5 million.
London Northwestern Railway (LNR) has introduced the first of its Class 730 electric train fleet into passenger service on the West Coast Main Line.
The first service was Monday morning’s 6.04am departure from Bletchley to London Euston, followed by the 7.24am return from Euston to Tring.
Initially Class 730s will run six passenger services every weekday but this will be stepped up in coming weeks as more units are brought into service.
One of the earliest surviving examples of a rural railway station has been restored to its former glory.
An article on the BBC website says Wingfield Station has been improved with £1.7 million from the National Lottery.
The Grade II*-listed station is the sole survivor of 16 that were originally part of a scheme developed by railway engineers George and Robert Stephenson.
Photo credit: London Northwestern Railway
