Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 23rd December 2022
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Friday, 23rd December 2022
Travellers are being warned to prepare for disruption as millions of people embark on journeys to spend Christmas with friends and family, amid Border Force and rail strike action.
In an article on the ITV website the AA said Friday will be the busiest day on the roads this week, with an estimated 16.9 million journeys being made across the UK.
A further 16.6 million journeys are expected to be made on Christmas Eve.
Congestion will be increased due to a strike by thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail causing train services to finish at around 3pm on Saturday.
The UK competition watchdog has launched a more in-depth investigation into Hitachi’s proposed purchase of Thales’s rail infrastructure division after warning the deal could lead to higher prices for passengers.
The article in the Evening Standard says earlier this month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns over the 1.7 billion euro (£1.5 billion) deal among the signalling operators.
It called on the companies to offer undertakings which could address the regulator’s competition concerns by Friday.
However, the CMA said it will now launch a thorough phase two probe after the firms said they will not be offering any changes to appease these fears.
Commuters have expressed their outrage following the announcement that train tickets would rise by 5.9 per cent from March – with a trip from Reading to London soaring by £298.
An article on the Mail Online says rail passengers took to social media to blast the pay increase for an ‘abysmal’ service they said had a ‘broken timetable’ and constant delays without noticeable improvements.
The Department for Transport has set a cap of 5.9 per cent for increases to fares regulated by the government, such as season tickets on most commuter journeys, some off-peak return tickets on long distance journeys and flexible tickets for travel around major cities.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he was capping the rise below inflation, describing the increase ‘a fair balance’ between passengers and taxpayers.
The fascinating history and significance of a 19th-century locomotive refuelling stage in Shildon, County Durham, used to re-supply early steam locomotives with the coal they needed to operate, has been unearthed from new research by Historic England.
It was built 175 years ago by the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR), the world’s first steam-hauled public railway which opened in 1825.
Constructed in 1847, Historic England believes that the site, known locally as the ‘coal drops’, was the first ever attempt to mechanise (by the use of gravity) the process of refuelling steam locomotives in the UK.
Photo credit: Historic England
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