Borders ambitions frustrated A feasibility study into extending the Borders Railway from Tweedbank to Carlisle has been put on hold, as part of the Government’s plan to close an alleged ‘funding gap’ of £22 billion in the public finances. Other railway reopening schemes on the Restoring Your Railway list have already been suspended, although work has continued on Mid Cornwall Metro, where a second platform is now being built at Newquay. The Cornish scheme escaped the Treasury axe because it is being funded with almost £50 million from the separate Levelling Up fund. The Northumberland Line is also set to reopen soon between Ashington and Newcastle. Railway to close for landslip work A section of railway in Kent will be closed for four days at the end of next month, so that work to prevent landslips can be carried out. The possession, from 31 October to 3 November, will allow engineers to build a 200m sheet pile wall near East Farleigh, and other renewals will be made while the line is closed. Buses will replace trains between Paddock Wood and Maidstone West. Greater Anglia life-saving classes Greater Anglia is showing its support for World Suicide Prevention Day today, by training more staff in suicide prevention to help keep people safe on the railway. Staff have already helped to save 20 lives so far this year by helping vulnerable or distressed people. In the last three years, 141 GA staff have completed Samaritans’ managing suicidal contacts course, and another session is being held at Norwich tomorrow, using Greater Anglia trainers.

New ticketless travel rules in Wales Ticketless rail passengers in south Wales face a penalty fare for the first time today, as Transport for Wales extends its penalty fare zone to include South Wales Metro routes and the Welsh Marches line to Shrewsbury and Manchester. The penalty is £20, but TfW has warned that it may increase its penalty fare to £100, which would bring it in line with England. Penalty fares do not apply to passengers boarding at stations which have no ticket office or machines, but they must pay on the train as soon as possible. Motorway reopens after railway bridge work The M62 has reopened at Castleton, near Rochdale, after two weekends of work by Network Rail engineers to replace a bridge over the motorway. Network Rail is investing more than £22 million to rebuild the 42 metre, 2000 tonne structure, and the M62 has been closed over two weekends to allow the work to go ahead. A total of 120 people worked around the clock to demolish the existing bridge, on the line between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale, using 11 excavators to pull the old bridge apart while the road below was closed. Manchester platforms closed Two platforms at Manchester Piccadilly will be closed until 29 September, because engineers are installing new netting under the trainshed roof. The work, which began in June, is being carried out in phases to reduce the disruption, and will continue until next month. The latest platforms to be closed are 5 and 6, and trains are being diverted to other platforms.

The only National Rail line on the Isle of Wight will close again tomorrow, for a new engineers’ possession. The latest closure will mean no trains until 6 October, when the line will reopen between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin, but the pier section will remain closed until 4 May. These latest closures are being described as essential in ‘futureproofing the service’. While the whole line is closed a footbridge at Brading willl be refurbished, signalling will be upgraded at Ryde and a bridge repaired at Sandown. There will also be work to renew the pier and the track which runs along it which will continue throughout the winter. Network Rail Wessex route infrastructure director Tom McNamee said: ‘Part of the track and infrastructure on the Island Line has become “life-expired”, with extreme weather contributing to the acceleration of the degradation of the railway. ‘Our planned maintenance will ensure we’re able to keep running services safely and reliably, while our ongoing programme of upgrades to the steel structure and track between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade stations will preserve and strengthen the track and infrastructure for future generations.’ The line has been closed several times in recent years for upgrades and repairs, including making changes for the arrival of the Vivarail conversions which replaced former tube rolling stock. Like the tube stock, the Vivarail trains were also cascaded from the London Underground, but a much wider programme of conversions for other lines was cancelled when Vivarail ceased to trade in late 2022.

If someone with time on their hands went through the backfile of Railnews (more than 700 editions) and pulled out each issue which included a story about the complexity of rail fares, they would have enough sheets of newspaper to wrap a lorry load of fish and chips. The nonsense which is the National Rail tariff has been getting worse for many years. The original culprit was ‘market price’ fares, as opposed to those simply calculated on distance, in the 1960s, when British Rail was short of money and firmly in the grasp of economists whose knowledge of financial matters may have been infinite, but who knew very little about railways or, indeed, what it was like to travel by train. Charging ‘what the market will bear’ was not, in itself, particularly damaging perhaps, but the 1980s began to see the first rumblings of ‘yield management’, in which every seat on every train can have its own price. From this came the present disaster, and we use the word deliberately. Matters were made worse by privatisation, and we are now in the position that a railway system with roundly 2,500 stations providing some 20,000 passenger trains a day can have 55 million possible fares. There have been a number of tinkerings over the years, such as attempts to abolish return tickets on a few routes, which tends to add to public puzzlement because it is inconsistent. The individual operators had a field day once privatisation had given them a relatively free hand. Peak and off-peak (logical enough, and known to exist since at least the 1940s) were made more confusing by the addition of ‘Super Off Peak’, while each operator decides the time limits for each type of ticket, so that Operator A declares that off-peak starts at 09.00, while operator B says it is 09.30. Operator B, by the way, doesn’t offer Super Off Peak at all. A row is now brewing (again) about the plight of passengers who get caught up in the machinery, and who plead (often in vain, it appears) that the ticket machines at their departure station weren’t working and are given a £100 penalty fare as punishment. Of course, some people are on the fiddle. There have probably been passengers trying to evade payment for their journeys ever since the days of the Stephensons and Brunel. We have no time for such cheats, but there seems to be overwhelming evidence that many people are not cheating, but are simply baffled by the rules. Rightly, many cases are now being reviewed. It is wrong to baffle customers, and it flies against any idea that the railways are there to provide a service. There is a lot for this government to do, but giving fares a radical overhaul must be high on its list of transport reforms. To misquote an old HMRC slogan, buying a railway ticket doesn’t have to be taxing.

The National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency have been called in to help Transport for London deal with a cyber attack, less than two weeks before the BBC launches a drama which depicts chaos on the railways after computer systems have been penetrated. Transport for London says transport services have not been affected, and it believes details of customers held on systems like the Oystercard database are safe. This morning the TfL website says: ‘We are currently dealing with an ongoing cyber security incident. At present, there is no evidence that any customer data has been compromised and there has been no impact on TfL services. ‘The security of our systems and customer data is very important to us, and we have taken immediate action to prevent any further access to our systems. ‘We are working closely with the relevant government agencies to respond to the incident. ‘We will update you further when the incident has been resolved.’ Earlier, TfL’s chief technology officer Shashi Verma had said:‘ We have introduced a number of measures to our internal systems to deal with an ongoing cyber security incident. The security of our systems and customer data is very important to us and we will continue to assess the situation throughout and after the incident. ‘Although we’ll need to complete our full assessment, at present, there is currently no evidence that any customer data has been compromised. There is currently no impact to TfL services and we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre to respond to the incident.’ The drama Night Sleeper tells the story of an overnight train from Glasgow to London which is sabotaged by a device inserted in the Train Management System, and becomes out of control. The series starts on BBC1 on 15 September.

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has launched a shadow version of the future ‘directing mind’ Great British Railways, as the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill reaches its Third Reading in the House of Commons today. When the Passenger Railway Services Bill becomes law, the ownership of train operators will be in the public sector by default, ruling out any return to the former franchising system. The Bill was created because more complicated legislation will be needed to give GBR legal authority and to allow it to take over many of the functions of the Department for Transport as well as the infrastructure responsibilities of Network Rail. Louise Haigh said: ‘Today, I am firing the starting gun on the biggest reforms to our railways in a generation. I am determined to end the chaos, delay and disruption faced by people on train journeys every day. ‘Establishing Shadow Great British Railways marks a significant step towards delivering a unified railway with passengers at its heart by bringing together track and train, and by progressing the Passenger Railways Services Bill we’re one step closer to public ownership which will help put our railways back on track. ‘This Government will direct every penny into creating a stronger, more reliable rail network that works for everyone. ‘This is about making the railways work for the people that use them – putting passengers first and driving up performance.’ The private sector lobby group Rail Partners has sounded a note of caution. Rail Partners chief executive Andy Bagnall said: ‘Train companies have been calling for the establishment of Great British Railways for many years but rushing to ban the use of contracted operators, before working out the details of this wider reform, is a political decision that offers few practical benefits for passengers. ‘When the government is facing huge financial challenges, it is counter-intuitive to remove the only part of the rail system with a track record of driving growth and reducing subsidy for taxpayers – nationalisation could be costing taxpayers £1 billion per year by the end of this Parliament.’ Meanwhile, a new Rail Sale has been announced for early next year, to coincide with celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the railways. The sale will be intended to encourage more people to travel by train by offering discounts of up to 50 per cent off fares for a limited period.

The Scottish Government is to replace its High Speed Train fleet, which is used on the intercity routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness. The fleet of InterCity 125s, consisting of 26 four- or five-car sets, was cascaded to Scotland from Great Western Railway in 2018 and branded ‘Inter7city’. The Mk3 coaches were refurbished and fitted with plug doors, although some entered service at first with their original hinged doors. One set was lost in the fatal derailment at Carmont in August 2020. Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop said: ‘Resilient, reliable ScotRail services are key to encouraging more people to choose to travel by train rather than car, to cutting our transport emissions and to helping to move people around Scotland for work, leisure and learning. That is why we must build on our investment in Scotland’s railway infrastructure by investing in the services and trains which connect our key cities. ‘Over four million passenger journeys were made on intercity trains in the last year. We want to maintain and where possible increase that number. We want to replace the current fleet with trains which provide more comfort and accessibility for passengers. ‘This planned investment will ensure the reliability of our intercity routes for the long-term, will reduce emissions and support our efforts to decarbonise Scotland’s railways.’ The procurement will be led by ScotRail on behalf of Transport Scotland. Further details will be provided when the contract notice is published ‘in the coming weeks’.

Arriva is applying for an extension to the track access agreement for Grand Central, which would take its open access licence to 2038. The application to the Office of Rail and Road for another 15 years on its East Coast Main Line routes includes proposals for a new fleet of bi-mode trains to replace the Class 180 Alstom diesels, which were built at the start of this century. Arriva said a new fleet would mean that it could offer 20 per cent more seats on Grand Central between London and Sunderland, and London and Bradford. It has started a consultation with stakeholders about its ambitions. Arriva UK Trains managing director David Brown said: ‘Grand Central plays an important role within Arriva Group’s rail portfolio and securing long-term access will allow us to invest and grow, supporting the Government’s ambitions for Britain’s railways to thrive. Grand Central provides reliable and efficient journeys to passengers who would otherwise not have access to services and therefore plays an essential role in economic growth by connecting communities across the north of England.’ It is Arriva’s second application to the ORR for an expansion of Grand Central this year. On 20 May Arriva proposed to run up to two more daily return services between London and Bradford, provide an additional early morning departure from York to London King’s Cross and a late-evening return service, four daily calls at Seaham on the Sunderland route and more calls at Peterborough. However, Network Rail replied on 28 June that it ‘cannot currently support the additional rights … because they would potentially interact with other known applications … Grand Central at present does not call at Seaham and so Network Rail would need to understand the operational risk assessment for such calls.’ Arriva is currently the holder of National Rail contracts for CrossCountry and Chiltern Railways, but these are due to be terminated as part of the government’s plans to renationalise the remaining former passenger franchises over the next three years. It also holds the Transport for London concession to operate London Overground.

The discounts available for travel on most railcards are set to be trimmed on 15 September, according to reports. The effective rises in fares will be small, because the present discounts of 34 per cent are said to be coming down to 33.4 per cent, which is just over the ‘third off’ which is normally advertised. The result would be that a fare of £100 would be reduced to £66.60 instead of £66 exactly. The main exception would be the 16-17 Railcard, which would continue to offer a 50 per cent discount. Although the rise amounts to 60p for every £100, transport campaigners are protesting. Railcard, the organisation run by the Rail Delivery Group, said: ‘The cost of a Railcard hasn't increased for over 10 years and will continue to provide customers with a third off their rail fare for just £30 a year – a cost that can be made back in just one or two journeys.’ If the reduction in discounts does go ahead, it will not benefit train operators. The Treasury or the devolved governments already collect all the income from rail fares, while paying the industry’s costs and a management fee to those English operators which have not yet been nationalised by transferring them from a private sector company to DOHL – the Department for Transport’s operator of last resort. The government’s Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, which would allow the remaining National Rail Contracts to be terminated at the next break point – usually the ‘core expiry date’ – is due to receive its Third Reading in the House of Commons tomorrow and be in force by the end of the year.

A series of weekend strikes which had been called by ASLEF on LNER has been called off, after a resolution was reported by the union. Drivers belonging to ASLEF had been set to walk out every weekend between now and mid-November, in a dispute about agreements which the union said had been broken. The dispute is not connected with the national pay dispute on which drivers are currently being balloted, with a recommendation to accept. LNER had already published a reduced timetable for this weekend but said it would now see how it could strengthen its service. The operator said the latest talks with ASLEF had been ‘constructive’ and that it was pleased the strikes had been suspended. ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘Once again we have demonstrated that by sitting round the table and negotiating, issues on the railway can be resolved in a way that means better workplace practices for rail workers and a better service for the travelling public. ASLEF will continue to campaign for a fully-staffed railway that doesn’t rely on excessive use of driver overtime. ‘We continue to operate in good faith and we are pleased to have finally resolved this long-standing issue with LNER of abuse of our agreements. We look forward to normal working resuming.’