Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Wednesday, 16th August 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Wednesday, 16th August 2023
Any rise in rail fares in England next year will be below the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rate of inflation, the government has promised.
The article on the Sky News website says the RPI figure – which is a measure for inflation – for July is due to be released on Wednesday and usually helps determine the cost of train tickets for the following year.
But the Department for Transport (DfT) promised that any increases will be below that in order “protect” passengers from cost of living pressures.
The expected hike in prices will also be delayed until March 2024.
A “significant step” in the fight to improve rail service reliability on the Far North and Kyle lines has been hailed by campaigners – after engineers signalled that long-called for improvement works may finally be in the offing.
An article on the Inverness Courier says long-suffering passengers will be hoping to experience fewer delays after plans for a new passing loop emerged.
Network Rail is looking to create a new 630-metre-long passing loop on the shores of the Beauly Firth which could help to mitigate a long-standing gripe of Highland travellers.
Tesco last week took delivery of a new rail container which can carry double-stacked pallets, so increasing the volume of goods it can transport by rail.
An article on Rail Advent says the container uses a mechanism that raises the roof to allow maximum stacking before lowering it for transit. This makes it easier to carry up to double the volume of products compared to other container types.
Rail Delivery Group figures show that each freight train has the potential to take up to 76 heavy goods vehicles off the roads, and that transporting goods by rail produces less than a quarter of the emissions of a diesel road journey.
The impact and influence of the railway industry on Crewe is being marked with an exhibition.
The article on the BBC website says when the Grand Junction Railway company opened its works there in 1843, Crewe was a village with a few hundred residents.
Over the course of 30 years the number grew to about 40,000 as the industry transformed the entire landscape.
“If it wasn’t for the works, there’d be no Crewe,” Steve Blackburn, from the Crewe Heritage Centre, said.
“The exhibition is about the people who were employed there and the experiences of those people. Crewe was the works, simple as that.”
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