In The News | 9th June 2021 | Latest Rail News

Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Wednesday, 9th June 2021

The latest rail news on Wednesday, 9th June 2021

The Dutch government is paying more than £90 million to UK taxpayers to prevent its train company from being booted off Britain’s railways.

West Midlands Trains, which is majority-owned by Dutch state-backed operator Abellio, has struck a compensation deal with Whitehall officials after ministers axed rail franchising and agreed to shoulder the burden of huge industry losses during COVID.

The article in The Daily Telegraph says a “termination payment” of £91 million was agreed following months of negotiations with the Department for Transport.

Plans for the multimillion-pound transformation of Darlington railway station took another major step forward as the formal planning application was submitted to Darlington Borough Council.

The £100 million redevelopment will pave the way for a new platform, entrance, station building and upgrades to its transport links.

The major redevelopment will create three new platforms on the east side of the existing station to accommodate current and future services, a new station building and a footbridge linking the new platforms and building with the existing station.

Network Rail has announced an additional £5 million investment for the Arun Valley line.

The work will be delivered over a nine-day closure from Saturday 14 August to Sunday 22 August, and several weekends between July and October.

The extra investment will see stations along the Arun Valley line deep cleaned and refurbished, track circuits replaced, and the renewal of sections of track at Pulborough, Warnham and Barnes Green brought forward into the nine-day closure.

Click here for more details.

Tarmac and its rail freight partner DB Cargo UK have announced that the delivery of construction materials on a key strategic route will be powered entirely by 100 per cent renewable fuel. 

The partners have confirmed that environmentally friendly hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) will be fuelling all freight trains running between Tarmac’s Mountsorrel site in Leicestershire and its rail-fed asphalt plant in the centre of Birmingham, as part of an ongoing commitment to supporting the sustainable delivery of the UK’s infrastructure ambitions. 

Click here for more details.

Photo credit: Tarmac

Download article