Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Wednesday, 18th October 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Wednesday, 18th October 2023
Growing concerns over a three-year production gap between 2024 and 2026, threatening 2,000 jobs in Derby at train maker Alstom, have prompted Derby City Council’s leader to request an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State for Transport.
An article on Derbyshire Live says Councillor Baggy Shanker already wrote to minister Mark Harper twice in September asking the Government to take action to ensure work continuity and jobs at the Litchurch Lane factory but has had no response.
Bosses at Alstom have previously said they are working with the Government to plug the gap but have not offered any more detailed news on the progress of that discussion.
Employees at the Derby site are currently working on orders of Alstom Aventra trains for lines across the country and on a fleet of monorail cars for a line in Egypt’s capital city, Cairo. But these projects are set to finish within the next six months.
National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) chair calls for look at rail investment following Manchester decision, as group releases second national infrastructure assessment
An article on Building website says the government’s top infrastructure advisor has called for an ‘urgent and comprehensive’ review of rail priorities for the North and Midlands to restore confidence after the cancellation of HS2.
NIC chair, Sir John Armitt, said the government’s recent policy change had replaced a long-term strategy for rail, in the form of 2021’s Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), with “a collection of rail projects at various stages of maturity”.
Balfour Beatty has been awarded a c.£43 million contract by Transport for London (TfL) to deliver essential upgrade works on the London Underground’s Piccadilly line.
This latest award marks the second contract to be awarded under the ‘London Underground High Voltage (HV) Power’ framework, to which Balfour Beatty was appointed last year.
Balfour Beatty will be responsible for the design, supply and installation of new assets at Hatton Cross and Hounslow substations including Transformer Rectifiers, High Voltage and Low Voltage Switchboards, Direct Current Switchboards and Auxiliary Transformers, and associated cable routes.
Today, the adverts that adorn the walls of the London Underground are rarely known for their artistic merit.
But, when London’s transport system was the envy of the world in the first half of the 20th century, the artwork on display was of a rather more impressive standard.
An article in the Mail Online says visionary Frank Pick – the network’s first chief executive – revolutionised poster advertising, which had previously been text-based.
From Friday, Londoners will be able to see those designs for themselves when a selection of posters from the London Transport Museum’s huge collection goes on display in a new exhibition.
More than 100 posters have been chosen for the Global Poster Gallery, which will open its doors at the museum’s headquarters in Covent Garden.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
