Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Tuesday, 8th June 2021
The latest rail news on Tuesday, 8th June 2021
The cost of a key HS2 station in Birmingham has ballooned by £100 million before builders have even submitted bids to win the lucrative tender.
An article in The Daily Telegraph says the Birmingham Interchange Station, the penultimate stop on the new high-speed link before Birmingham, was originally expected to cost £270 million, but will now cost £370 million.
The Midlands stop is expected to open in 2026 and is being dubbed by engineers as one of the world’s most sustainable railway stations.
The railways watchdog has launched an investigation after cracks in Hitachi trains caused chaos for thousands of passengers and led to a wave of cancellations.
The article in The Daily Telegraph says bosses at the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will also examine whether passengers were correctly refunded after services were cancelled when trains were pulled from two of Britain’s busiest lines.
Ian Prosser, chief inspector of railways at ORR says “now is the right time to ensure we understand more and the industry can learn lessons”.
Sadiq Khan is preparing to cut Tube and bus services, axe jobs and close departments at Transport for London as he scrambles to fill a gaping hole in the capital’s public transport budget.
The London Mayor must save £900 million under the terms of TfL’s latest bailout from Westminster after its business model was wrecked by COVID.
An article in The Daily Telegraph features comments from the Mayor saying they are looking if they can vacate some offices, merging some departments, having fewer non-permanent staff, but one of the things they will have to look at is a possible reduction in services.
Finally, a multi-million pound, once-in-a-generation improvement scheme designed to future proof King’s Cross station and radically improve services for passengers has been completed.
The scheme – dubbed ‘King’s Uncrossed’ – involved a wholesale replacement of the over 40-year-old tracks and track layout on the 1.5-mile approach into the station as part of the £1.2 billion East Coast Upgrade.
It also saw the reopening of a disused tunnel after 44 years to add two additional lines into the station from the north.
Photo credit: HS2 Ltd
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