Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Thursday, 5th October 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Thursday, 5th October 2023
Rishi Sunak has faced backlash from his predecessors in Number 10 for losing a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” by cancelling the northern leg of HS2.
An article on the ITV News website says the prime minister went against senior Tories and business leaders to scrap HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester saying “the facts have changed” and the cost of the high-speed rail scheme had “more than doubled”.
But former Tory prime minister David Cameron said the decision would fuel the view that Britain cannot act for the long-term and is “heading in the wrong direction”.
Sticking with HS2 and an article on the BBC website says funding for upgrades to two major rail junctions will come from money earmarked for the now partially axed HS2 high-speed rail line.
Ely junction in Cambridgeshire and Haughley in Suffolk will get an undisclosed share of £6.5 billion in funding.
You can read more about the announcement and the reaction from the industry on the railbusinessdaily website.
The UK’s first battery-powered passenger trains have started running in Merseyside.
The trains, which are part of the Liverpool City Region’s £500 million publicly owned fleet, will run from the new £80 million Headbolt Lane station in Kirkby.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said the move helps to pave the way “for cleaner and greener” transport.
Eurostar staff are on alert due to a bed bug infestation in Paris, which has hit the French capital in recent days.
An article on the Sky News website says the blood-sucking tiny creatures have been spotted in homes, cinemas, hospitals and trains – but a government minister has insisted there is “no outbreak” on Paris’s public transport network.
Amid fears the critters could spread in the UK, Eurostar said it has extra cleaning measures to help disinfect its cross-Channel trains if required.
Photo credit: HS2 Ltd
