In The News | 24th July 2023 | Latest Rail News

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InTheNews: The latest rail news on Monday, 24th July 2023

The Railway Industry Association has urged the government to encourage new rolling stock orders in a new report that says thousands of jobs could be at risk if some of the country’s major train factories run out of work in the next 12 months. 

The report, entitled “The UK Rolling Stock Industry – making 2023 the year of opportunity not crisis”, outlines how there are currently no orders for new or upgraded rolling stock in the UK, with current orders set to end by 2026.

Commenting on the report, RIA Technical Director David Clarke said: “This RIA report is clear that rolling stock orders are required now. These should be ‘no-regrets’ decisions for Government as they wouldn’t require upfront taxpayer investment but would result in a broad range of benefits, from retaining jobs to immediate carbon and air quality improvement and a better experience for passengers.”

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UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK government’s export credit agency, has announced the €781m of financing – equivalent to £680m – to support construction of a 286km high-speed electric railway in southern Turkey.

With financing provided through UKEF’s Buyer Credit Facility, Rönesans Holding will finish construction of the Mersin-Adana-Gaziantep High Speed Railway on behalf of the Turkish Ministry of Transport.

The deal is expected to create new, multimillion-pound export contract opportunities for the UK’s infrastructure, engineering and project management sectors, with Rönesans Holding – one of Europe’s ten largest construction companies – intending to use the high-speed rail project to build its wider relationships with the UK supply chain.

Members of Doncaster Council’s cabinet have criticised the government’s handling of HS2 in the wake of The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI)’s closure.

An article from the Doncaster Free Press reports that plans to explore new options for the site were heard at a cabinet meeting last week as the college is handed back to the authority following its closure after six years.

The £26 million purpose-built facility first opened as the National College for High Speed Rail in 2017, with an aim to train apprentices to work on HS2, but has failed to meet student number targets following the scrapping of the project’s Eastern leg.

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