In The News | 16th July 2021 | Latest Rail News

Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 16th July 2021

The latest rail news on Friday, 16th July 2021

In today’s headlines, Northern leaders say they won’t accept a stripped-back train service timetable unless the Government fully commits to delivering key investment projects to increase capacity and connectivity in the region.

Transport for the North’s Rail North Committee say that planned infrastructure upgrades such as new signalling, track work and platform lengthening haven’t progressed quickly enough in recent years, meaning congestion on the North’s railways is so bad that some services are now proposed to be removed to help the timetable operate more reliably.

With the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands yet to be published, Northern mayors and political leaders say they are being asked to make decisions whilst ‘totally in the dark’ about funding and timing of rail investments over the next decade. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the Government’s failure to prioritise the North’s rail network for the investment it desperately needs was ‘unacceptable’. 

Read more here: https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/northern-leaders-seek-further-commitments-before-new-rail-timetable-is-agreed/

Battery-powered trains have been tested in Liverpool as part of plans to expand the City Region’s rail network, the BBC reports.

Seven of operator Merseyrail’s new fleet of trains have been fitted with batteries which enable them to operate on tracks without a third electrified rail, and could eventually provide a direct service from stations as far out as Preston and Wrexham.

Liverpool City Region (LCR) mayor Steve Rotheram said the trains, which can travel up to 20 miles on a single charge, were a “massive part” of the quest to build an integrated, London-style transport network in the area.

HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson has urged businesses in Wales to register their interest in joining HS2’s supply chain by attending an online event.

The webinar, which will be held next Tuesday 20th July, will provide an opportunity for companies to learn about the £25bn worth of opportunities available on the scheme, as well as talking to other businesses that are already working on it. Mr Stephenson said the event will show Welsh companies how supply chain opportunities extend far beyond traditional track and train works. 

Businesses are able to register for the event via Eventbrite, and also by visiting railbusinessdaily.com and clicking the link in the article here: https://news.railbusinessdaily.com/minister-leads-call-for-welsh-businesses-to-bid-for-work-on-hs2/

And finally, Clapham Junction station has unveiled a blue plaque to commemorate a campaigner who saved Wandsworth Common from being taken by property developers.

The plaque, funded by Heritage England, commemorates John Charles Buckmaster, a local resident from close to the station, and describes him as an “educator, orator and campaigner for Wandsworth Common”. The unveiling was attended by Network Rail’s Sir Peter Hendy, the deputy mayor of Wandsworth, and Viscount Buckmaster, the great, great-grandson of John Charles.

The unveiling comes almost 150 years almost to the day that the Wandsworth Common Act was passed in 1871, preserving the Common’s green space for residents of Battersea, Wandsworth and beyond. 

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