Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Thursday, 8th June 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Thursday, 8th June 2023
It has been revealed that funding for community rail could be cut by up to a quarter from train operators’ budgets from the government, potentially putting the jobs of community rail officers in jeopardy and threatening the funding provided to station partnerships.
Rail Business Daily (RBD) has been made aware of cuts to core funding of Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) as well as some train operators having to pause any payments as the Department for Transport (DfT) reviews train operating company expenditure
The Department for Transport statement said: “reform of all aspects of the railways is essential”.
Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “The Community Rail Network team is doing everything we can, working closely with DfT and train operator colleagues, to protect community rail funding.
“Whilst we have been advised that core funding for the majority of community rail partnerships is not being impacted, we recognise the concern this situation has caused for some. Alongside working with train operators, we also continue to explore and develop wider sources of income.”
The proposed takeover of Thales GTS by Hitachi could lead to rail signalling projects becoming more expensive, the competition authorities have determined.
An investigation by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally concluded that Hitachi’s €1.7 billion proposed acquisition of the Thales Ground Transportation (GTS) business could lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the supply of digital mainline and urban signalling rail systems.
Hitachi and Thales are two of the big four global suppliers of signalling systems for mainline and urban railway networks – along with Siemens and Alstom.
The new boss of TransPennine Express said the rail operator is struggling because it’s “become far too complicated” as he revealed its drivers have 5,000 outstanding training days still to take.
An article on the Manchester Evening News website says Chris Jackson spoke to Northern leaders yesterday (Wednesday) after being named interim managing director of TransPennine, which is now under state control after months of cancellations and delays.
And he said he wanted to “get to the core of the issues…facing” the operator, which cancelled the equivalent of one in seven trains across the North of England and Scotland in the four weeks to April 29.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the board of Transport for London (TfL) has announced that Andy Lord has been appointed as London’s permanent transport commissioner.
Andy joined TfL in November 2019 as managing director of London Underground and became chief operating officer for all of TfL’s operations in 2022.
He said: “I am hugely honoured and proud to do this job and to have the opportunity to continue to steer TfL as we move forward with the work of supporting London’s recovery from the pandemic, ensuring TfL better reflects the diverse city we serve whilst becoming the green heartbeat of the capital.”
Photo credit: Transport for London
