Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Tuesday, 18th April 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Tuesday, 18th April 2023
Train delays will worsen over the next five years due to rising costs and funding, according to a leaked Network Rail presentation.
The article on the Sky News website says the presentation reportedly said current funding would not let Network Rail “operate, maintain and renew” their tracks, bridges and earthworks infrastructure.
The “official-sensitive-commercial” report was intended for rail industry bosses but was seen by The Independent.
Network Rail said: “The government’s commitment to investing £44 billion in the operations, maintenance and renewal of England and Wales’s railway is a clear indication of the strong economic value rail brings to Britain.
“Our plan for CP7 will be ambitious, focused on our passengers and customers and reflects the current complexities and challenges facing the industry.”
Speculation has ended as to whether HS2 Ltd’s 7km long Euston Tunnel, part of the main works civils contract awarded to the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV), will be delayed.
An article in New Civil Engineer says the tunnel’s schedule was thrown into doubt after the Euston station project was put on hold last month, with spiralling costs due to inflation cited as the reason.
However, immediately following the decision to pause the station works, neither HS2 Ltd or the Department for Transport were able to confirm the fate of the Euston Tunnel.
HS2 Ltd has now confirmed that work on it, scheduled to begin in 2024, has been paused.
Hitachi Energy’s world-leading energy security expertise is coming to Wales after partnering with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) to test the latest in rail technology.
An article on the National Cymru website says the collaboration is supported by both the Welsh and UK Government and follows Hitachi Energy winning a competitive tender to provide a Static Frequency Converter to manage the power grid and provide energy security.
As part of the partnership, Hitachi Rail will test cutting edge technology at GCRE in Wales and work to improve energy security with their industry leading Static Frequency Converter.
ScotRail is increasing the safety and security at 60 stations across Scotland by installing new CCTV cameras with upgraded intelligent video analytics.
The new cameras can analyse movements of customers on the platform to determine if members of the public are in unsafe situations, allowing ScotRail’s CCTV monitoring team to alert station staff, signallers, and British Transport Police, if necessary.
Everything from monitoring passenger numbers which will assist with crowd management to behavioural analytics which can identify people lingering in stations can be controlled via the new camera units.
Photo credit: ScotRail
