In the News – 26th February 2020

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We start with an article in The Times which features comments from the former Transport Secretary who claims a failure to overhaul the ‘hellish’ rail fares system has led to passengers overpaying for decades.

Sir Patrick McLoughlin said a reform of fares was “long overdue”, with a third of people put off travelling by train because of complex ticketing arrangements.

He told a speech last night that a failure to tackle rail fares properly was one of his biggest regrets during his time as Transport Secretary from 2012 to 2016.

East West Railway Company has published a Prior Information Notice seeking specialist partners to help the company deliver the proposed East West Rail line, which would bring connectivity to communities between Oxford and Cambridge.

The company is interested in speaking to firms of all sizes, including those that have a presence along the proposed East West Rail route, whether in Oxford, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Bedford or locations in between.

Network Rail worked around the clock removing 2,500 tonnes of mud and trees and brought in 8,000 tonnes of material to protect the railway between Kidbrooke and Barnehurst.

It was part of a nine-day closure for vital engineering work to protect passengers from disruption caused by landslips.

The BBC reports that a heritage railway says it has brought itself back from the brink of insolvency after reporting an £800,000 trading loss last year.

Since April, West Somerset Railway plc’s £1m in cash reserves had ‘eroded away’ over five years.

Chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt has told the BBC that the company was on track to recoup all of its losses by August.

Photo credit: I Wei Huang / Shutterstock.com

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