In The News | 2nd July 2021 | Latest Rail News

Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 2nd July 2021

The latest rail news on Friday, 2nd July 2021

A virtual reality immersive journey planning app for trains and stations could soon make journeys easier by reducing passenger anxiety and helping passengers to understand their journey ahead of travelling.

The technology is one of the winners of the latest round of the First of a Kind (FOAK) competition announced today by the Transport Secretary.

This year the competition has been aimed at making the railways cleaner, greener and more passenger friendly.

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HS2 is being sued by German manufacturer Siemens over the handling of a £2.8 billion train building contract – just days after it was forced to settle a similar challenge by a rival bidder.

The article in The Daily Telegraph says the legal action comes as Siemens is set to be overlooked in the procurement process with the contract to build 54 high-speed trains to be awarded to a joint venture between Hitachi and Bombardier.

The article says sources close to HS2 and the government insisted the procurement had not been bungled.

West Midlands Safer Travel has welcomed three new team members into brand new roles created to tackle antisocial behaviour on the public transport network.

Three Transport Safety Officers (TSOs) are the first of their kind in the UK to operate across all three modes of public transport.

In their first three weeks on patrol they have engaged with over 5,000 passengers as well as issuing 15 verbal warnings and safeguarded a vulnerable young person.

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This week, the first train carrying spoil removed from HS2 construction works in London left the HS2 Logistics hub in Willesden.

Carrying 1,470 tonnes of spoil, the train departed at 03:51 and will travel to Barrington in Cambridgeshire, where the spoil will be reused in a disused quarry to bring it back into use as a new housing development.

Over the lifecycle of the project up to seven freight trains per day will depart the Logistics hub at Willesden, and will remove one million lorries from the roads in the London area alone. 

Photo credit: www.johnzammit.co.uk Absolute Photography Ltd

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