Rail
investment
call


The
Railway
Industry
Association
has
sent
its
Autumn
2024
submission
to
HM
Treasury
in
advance
of
the
Budget
on
30
October.
The
suppliers’
group
is
calling
for
a
steady
pipeline
of
capital
projects
and
rail
investment
to
lower
costs,
create
jobs,
boost
growth
and
ultimately
secure
the
country’s
industrial
and
manufacturing
capacity.
RIA
chief
executive
Darren
Caplan
said:
‘Boosting
the
railway
network
is
crucial
to
the
economy,
local
growth,
decarbonisation
and
providing
social
value
to
communities
around
the
country.
And
so
we
strongly
encourage
Ms
Reeves
to
remember
that
capital
projects
including
rail
can
help
her
ambition
to
drive
the
Government’s
headline
priority
of
powering
economic
growth.’

TfL
names
potential
tram
suppliers

Transport
for
London
has
issued
an
Invitation
to
Tender to
four
pre-qualified
manufacturers for
the
supply
of
at
least
24
trams.
The
shortlisted
companies
are
Alstom,
CAF,
Hitachi
and
Stadler.
TfL
said
the
four
can
now
proceed
to
the
next
stage
of
the
formal
process,
along
with
TfL,
to
design
and
build
the
next
generation
of
trams
that
will
start
to
be
introduced
later
in
the
decade
if
funding
is
available.
The
existing
fleet
consists
of
trams
built
by
Bombardier
and
Stadler
but
the
original
Bombardier
trams
are
now
more
than
20
years
old,
and
TfL
said
they
are
becoming
less
reliable.

New
FirstGroup
chair


FirstGroup
says
Lena
Wilson
CBE
will
be
joining
the
Board
as
chair
on
1
February.
Lena
is
an
experienced
director
and
chair
having
held
positions
on
listed
and
private
companies
for
over
a
decade.
She
is
currently
a
non-executive
director
and
remuneration
committee
chair
at
NatWest
Group
plc
and
also
the
chair
of
Picton
Property
Income
Limited.
David
Martin
retired
from
the
Board
last
night,
and
until
Lena
joins
the
Board,
senior
independent
director
Peter
Lynas
will
act
as
chair.

HS2
jobs


More
than
4,500
people
who
were
out
of
work
have
found
employment
with
HS2.
The
latest
data
from
HS2
Ltd
shows
that
246
people
who
were
previously
unemployed
joined
the
project
between
April
and
June
2024.
To
date,
the
total
number
of
formerly
unemployed
people
now
working
on
HS2
has
reached
4,504.
In
all,
more
than
31,000
people
are
now
working
on
HS2,
with
construction
continuing
between
London
and
the
West
Midlands.