Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Tuesday, 25th July 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Tuesday, 25th July 2023
Mayors across England have written to train operators with an up to seven-day warning, setting out the legal action they will take if a consultation to close rail tickets offices and drastically cut staff is not halted.
On 05 July the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) announced that the public would have just 21 days to have their say on plans to close almost all of the 1,007 remaining ticket offices in the country.
Five mayors from across England came together on 18 July to raise their concerns about the plans and to announce that they have taken legal advice on challenging rail operators – TransPennine Express, Northern Trains Ltd, LNER, EMR, Thameslink, Greater Anglia and Avanti.
The mayors have now sent pre-action protocol letters to each of the operators, setting out the requirements under Section 29 of the Railway Act 2005, which states approval from the Secretary of State is required and a 12-week consultation period must follow before any decision is made.
HS2 has begun the search for a specialist contractor to deliver platform edge doors for the new high speed railway’s Old Oak Common and Interchange stations.
The new contract opportunity is for a framework agreement which covers the platform barrier and automatic doors along the edge of the platforms. These will line up with the train doors – similar to those used at London’s new Elizabeth Line stations.
The framework agreement and call-off contracts – including maintenance and optional extra scope for Manchester Airport station – could be worth up to £93m, with the framework agreement and first call-off contract expected to be awarded in early 2025.
Plans for Torquay’s third railway station have been left in doubt, according to a report from Devon Live.
The ‘Torquay Gateway’ train station was set to be built for the Edginswell area of the town, linking services to and from Paignton, Newton Abbot, Exeter and Exmouth.
But speaking at a Torbay Council meeting last week, deputy council leader Chris Lewis said that the scheme was not progressing as planned and the council needed to find £10m to fund the new station.
Construction of the station was due to start in Summer 2023 with the new station open and running by the end of 2024, however plans now look to be delayed after the funding changes.
Finally, an adventurous pup in Australia has taken a one-hour trip on a train into a bustling city centre after he escaped from a home.
An article from MailOnline said Storm, a white Labrador, was caught on CCTV getting on a Melbourne Metro train alone last June at Hoppers Crossing before emerging one hour later at the city’s Flinders Street Station.
The dog was visiting from Sydney with his owners and broke loose from the backyard before taking the 33km journey into the city’s CBD train station.
CCTV footage showed a train driver emerging from the Werribee-line carriage at Flinders Street Station holding the excited pooch by the collar before he was eventually safely reunited with his owners.
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