In The News: 30th September

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Trains powered by hydrogen are being tested on British rail lines for the first time and could be carrying paying passengers within three years.

The article features in several of the national newspapers including The Daily Telegraph, which writes that the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was aboard a low-carbon HydroFLEX train, for its inaugural journey yesterday, between Long Marston in Warwickshire and Evesham in Worcestershire.

It was hoped the technology would mean old diesel trains could be retrofitted to make them eco-friendly, thus decarbonising non-electrified lines.

The Government also unveiled wider projects, including 19 hydrogen-powered refuse trucks in Glasgow and research into cleaner mass hydrogen production.

HS2 has awarded a major contract to Bolton-based Booth Industries to provide high-pressure safety doors for the internal passages linking the high-speed rail project’s tunnels.

The contract – worth £36 million – will see more than 300 units manufactured at a new purpose-built facility in the town, and create up to fifty jobs over the next ten years.

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Boris Johnson’s plea for people to ‘work from home if they can’ to curb the second wave of COVID will blight Transport for London’s efforts to restore its finances, it is feared.

That is according to an article in the Evening Standard that says TfL saw its income collapse by 90 per cent during the first stage of the pandemic, which Londoners were told to avoid public transport.

London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is now seeking £4.7 billion – £1.8 billion to keep services going until the end of next March, and £2.9 billion for the 2021-22 financial year.

Finally, and Ministers have been urged to fund a £20 million smart ticketing system in a bid to increase the use of public transport across the Midlands.

The article in the Express & Star features details of a new platform – similar to the Oyster card system used by Transport for London – that would allow travellers to pay for trips on the rail, bus and tram network via their smartphone, travel pass or bank card.

The development of the new system will be led by Transport for West Midlands with initial roll-out of the plans being implemented by TfWM and Nottingham City Council.

Photo credit: HS2 Ltd

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