Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Monday, 8th April 2024.
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Monday, 8th April 2024
A £150m upgrade to a railway link between Manchester and Sheffield will be officially opened today (April 8).
An article on The Business Desk says the Hope Valley Railway upgrade began in spring 2021 and has delivered various improvements to the line between the two locations.
Dore & Totley station in Sheffield will have two platforms for the first time since the 1980s. The new platform is linked to the existing platform by a fully accessible footbridge with lifts at both ends. The existing platform at Dore & Totley has also been extended to accommodate six carriage trains.
Other key improvements include signalling improvements along the line to improve reliability and a new overbridge at Hathersage West, replacing the current foot crossing to improve safety.
Passengers on Britain’s railways should expect more strikes to follow the current round of industrial action within months, the boss of the train drivers’ union Aslef has warned ahead of today’s third day of disruption amid a simmering row over pay.
An article on Yahoo news says Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, said the union was scheduled to enter negotiations this month with some rail operators over future pay levels, and that a failure to strike a deal would mean it would look to launch a fresh round of industrial action to run alongside the current dispute.
He added that this was likely, as the current breakdown in talks over a pay agreement for drivers for the last two years would make it hard to strike any future agreement.
Homes England and Network Rail Property have signed a development agreement with McLaren Property and Arlington Real Estate to be strategic development partners for York Central.
An article on The Business Desk says this is one of the UK’s largest city centre regeneration schemes.
The development agreement will lead to the transformation of one of the largest brownfield sites in England alongside other partners – the City of York Council and the National Railway Museum.
York Central will involve building 2,500 new homes (20 per cent of which will be affordable) and will create up to one million sq ft of office, retail and hospitality space, along with improvements to the York Railway Station and an enhanced National Railway Museum.
Network Rail will start a £3.4m investment to carry out repairs on the 123-year-old Glenfinnan viaduct this month.
Along with principal contractor AmcoGiffen, engineers will assess the condition and strength of the viaduct, while carrying out work to protect it from water erosion, completing concrete repairs and making improvements beneath the track to keep the stone ballast in place.
It’s part of Network Rail’s ongoing maintenance programme and will help futureproof the landmark, which sits 100ft above the River Finnan on the West Highland Line, 17 miles from Fort William. The work is scheduled to take just under a year to complete.
