Transport secretary Louise Haigh has raised hopes that the high speed link between Old Oak Common and London Euston could be back on the agenda. She has told Times Radio that an announcement about the Euston section could be included in the budget speech on 30 October. Ms Haigh said: ‘We’ve said before that Euston was always planned to be part of the picture for HS2. We’re hoping to make an announcement on that soon.’ Meanwhile, Ms Haigh has been advised by the High Speed Rail Group that completing HS2 to Euston and also restoring the section between the West Midlands and Crewe, for which land has already been bought, could make the line much more valuable to a potential concession-holder. The Group, which includes major contractors like Hitachi, Alstom and Siemens and is supported by the high speed rail lobby group Greengauge21, says the full route could be worth £20 billion to a leaseholder, but much less if the line only connects Old Oak Common with Birmingham, and that the difference could more than pay for the Euston section. HS1 is already leased to a consortium of investors until 2040, although the Government is the ground landlord and the line itself has not been sold. A similar arrangement for HS2 could appeal to the Treasury.  The work at Old Oak Common towards Euston is currently on hold, pending a decision about the future of the link, but two tunnel boring machines have already arrived from Germany. HSRG chair Dyan Perry is quoted by the Guardian as saying: ‘Short-term decisions to cut investment into infrastructure would be deeply damaging to the UK, creating uncertainty and jeopardising investor confidence. ’We strongly urge Treasury officials to carefully consider our recommendations and take action to ensure the UK can fully realise the benefits of a connected rail network.’ Meanwhile, Network Rail has announced a five-point plan to improve the present Euston, which was opened in 1969 but is now handling many more passengers than for which it was designed, leading to overcrowding. Performance problems on the West Coast Main Line can make matters worse, and one of Network Rail’s priorities is to improve the route. The other four are a review of passenger information displays, better messages to passengers when trains are ready for boarding, increasing the amount of space on the concourse and easing pinch-points, and making sure that the various parties who contribute to the functioning of Euston work together more effectively. Overhead advertising boards have already been switched off, while their future is assessed. Network Rail West Coast South route director Gary Walsh said: ‘Our five-point plan will help improve things for passengers in the short term by creating more space, providing better passenger information, and working as an industry to improve the reliability of train services on the West Coast Main Line.’

ScotRail’s full timetable has been restored, after three months of reduced services. A pay deal was agreed with ASLEF on 25 September, and ScotRail said it can now restore the service that had been advertised until 10 July, having also recruited more than 250 drivers since April 2022 in a bid to reduce its reliance on drivers working overtime. Meanwhile, trains have started running again on the Isle of Wight between Ryde and Shanklin after a month of engineering work, but not to Ryde Pier Head. During the closure Network Rail engineers laid 110m of new track through Ryde Esplanade, using composite sleepers which are more resilient to the maritime atmosphere, and which should last for 60 years. They also installed about 48 new rail bearers on a 65m section from the end of Ryde Esplanade station towards Ryde Pier Head. Signalling was improved and the track through Ryde Esplanade station was slewed to reduce the gap between trains and the platform. Elsewhere, track was also renewed at Smallbrook Junction, two bridge decks were renewed, another bridge was repaired at Sandown and the footbridge at Brading was improved. The pier section, which relies on a Victorian structure, will remain closed until May to allow parts of the pier to be maintained or replaced. Network Rail Wessex route infrastructure director Tom McNamee said: ‘We’re delighted to have completed an important programme of maintenance on the Island Line over the past month, alongside our SWR colleagues. ‘All of our focus now turns to continuing life extension work to the Ryde Pier structure which presents a unique and challenging working environment for our engineers. We recognise closing this stretch of track between Ryde Pierhead and Ryde Esplanade will be disruptive to passengers. However continuing this work is imperative for the continued safe and reliable running of Island Line services.’

KeolisAmey has been awarded a new eight year contract to run the Docklands Light Railway on behalf of Transport for London. The consortium has already been running the DLR for the past decade, having taken over from Serco in December 2014. The new contract is to start on 1 April 2025, and it includes a number of improvements including timetable changes, so that trains can run more frequently. There will also be new performance incentives intended to reduce fraudulent travel, which is a loss to TfL. One hurdle which will need to be overcome is a problem with the signalling system, which is preventing the first of 54 new trains built by CAF entering service. The speed of existing trains is being reduced by 5km/h in places, as a first step towards making sure that the new fleet will be compatible. The new trains are intended to replace 33 of the oldest units, while the remaining 21 will be used to increase the network’s capacity. TfL’s general manager for the DLR Tom Page said: ‘I am looking forward to continuing to work with KeolisAmey. Over the next few years, customers will benefit from a number of improvements, including a fleet of new trains offering increased capacity and frequency, so the continuing support and new ideas KeolisAmey will bring will be invaluable.’

Transport watchdog London TravelWatch has described a decision by the Office of Rail and Road as ‘incredible’, amid a new controversy which has flared up about the safety of London Euston.  The station was at the centre of allegations during the summer that before rail minister Lord Hendy had joined the government and was chair of Network Rail, he had warned a company that it was risking future contracts unless it took action against an employee who had criticised the overcrowding at Euston as dangerous. Guardian journalist Barney Ronay posted on X a few days ago that Euston is ‘easily, easily the worst main station in Western Europe’. He continued: ‘It’s like being taken away to be machine gunned in the woods by various mobile phone and soft drinks companies. Congrats to everyone involved.’ Now London TravelWatch has joined the fray, saying that ‘it is when train services are disrupted that the station really struggles to cope, with high levels of overcrowding putting passengers in danger’. LTW has discussed its concerns with Network Rail, saying that ‘yet passengers are still having to rush to platforms due to last minute announcements, staff appear overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people involved and the recently-installed information screens seem to have done little if anything to make things better’. In a statement, it continued: ‘It is almost a year since the Office of Rail and Road issued an improvement notice to Network Rail regarding the station, but it seems little has changed. We are also very concerned that the situation will only worsen if new operators are successful in their recent applications to run additional services. ’Incredibly, the ORR closed its improvement notice following actions taken and commitments made by Network Rail. In May, the Transport Select Committee asked Network Rail for further detail on these actions, which aim to improve the management of passenger flows at Euston. These details now need to be published and reviewed as a matter of urgency.’ Network Rail, which manages Euston as part of its portfolio of 19 larger stations, said: ’Euston was designed for a different era and we acknowledge that it is in need of major investment and modernisation. ‘However, safety is at the heart of our operation and something we would never compromise on in any of our stations. ’For the majority of the time the station works; however, during times of disruption, there simply isn’t enough room for passengers, and we know this can make for an uncomfortable and unpleasant environment.’ The first Euston was opened in 1837 as the terminus of the newly-built London and Birmingham Railway, but after being enlarged more than once it was demolished in the 1960s as part of the electrification and modernisation of the main line to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. The new Euston was opened by the Queen in 1968, when British Rail said the terminus was ‘at your service with every modern amenity’.

ScotRail has announced that its full timetable will be restored on Monday 7 October. A pay deal was agreed with drivers’ union ASLEF on 25 September, and ScotRail said it can now restore the service that had been advertised until 10 July, having also recruited more than 250 drivers since April 2022 in a bid to reduce its reliance on drivers working overtime, which sometimes led to cancellations at short notice. However, ScotRail and Transport Scotland have come under fire for restoring peak hour fares last week, which doubled the cost of some journeys, but ScotRail pointed out that it is offering an additional discount of 20 per cent on season tickets for the next twelve months. It is also selling 12 Flexipass tickets for the price of 10. Service delivery director Mark Ilderton said: ‘We are delighted to confirm that our full timetable will return on Monday. We have been working round the clock to deliver this in a very short space of time because we know how important a full service is to our customers. ‘It’s been a difficult few months for our customers and staff, and we thank everybody for their patience. ’With a pay deal agreed and the full timetable back in place, everyone at ScotRail is focused on delivering a safe, reliable, and green service.’

Trains stranded by storm Two Intercity Express trains were stranded at Dawlish and Teignmouth during a storm last night, along the stretch of coastal railway in south Devon which was partly destroyed by heavy seas just over ten years ago. GWR said: ’It’s not yet known why and Hitachi will need to investigate the cause of any issues to those trains.’ Train services in the region are mostly returning to normal today after the storm. Several lines were closed, including part of the main line west of Exeter and two branches in Cornwall, and early morning trains from Newquay were cancelled this morning because there is still floodwater on the line. Meanwhile, train services between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury are not expected to be restored before the end of the day, as the result of flooding at Wellington HS1 access charges may fall ORR has proposed lower charges for passenger trains which use High Speed 1 between London St Pancras International and the Channel Tunnel, and halving charges for freight traffic. The plan, published today, is part of its Draft Determination of HS1 Ltd’s spending. The draft sets out ORR’s view of HS1 Ltd’s five-year spending from 2025 to 2030, and the ORR said it was able to ‘identify specific areas in the company’s spending plans where further improvements can be made’.  Peak fare restoration condemned Peak fares are being charged on ScotRail again, after a 12-month experiment to see if abolishing them would boost traffic. The trial did not yield the results for which ministers had hoped, and Transport Scotland said it was not financially possible to continue. ASLEF has added its voice to the protests, after the RMT had opposed restoring the higher fares last month. The drivers’ union has condemned the return of higher fares as a ‘tax on workers’, and described the decision as ‘short sighted’.

A man was arrested last night following a British Transport Police investigation into a cyber attack affecting the WiFi networks at stations managed by Network Rail. The man now being questioned is suspected of committing offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988. Network Rail said the WiFi at its 19 stations is provided by a third party and doesn’t collect personal data. The BBC reported that passengers at Network Rail’s 19 managed stations said phone screens showed ‘dodgy’ popups and ‘bizarre security alerts’, which British Transport Police described as ‘Islamophobic messaging’, but there are no reports of related incidents on other railway computer networks. Network Rail employs Telent to manage its station WiFi, and BTP said the man now being questioned is an employee of Global Reach Technology, a contractor of Telent. British Transport Police added: ‘The abuse of access was restricted to the defacement of the splash pages, and no personal data is known to have been affected.’ The attack was the second this month. Transport for London is still recovering from a breach earlier in September which is thought to have compromised data on 5,000 TfL passengers, including Oyster card holders. A drama series started on BBC1 on 15 September about a major cyber attack on railway systems. The six part series Nightsleeper is about an overnight train on the Glasgow to London route which becomes out of control.

The RMT has ended its long-running dispute with train operators, after its members voted by large majorities to accept the latest pay offer. It is reported that staff at operators will receive a backdated increase on last year’s pay, worth 4.75 per cent, with a 4.5 per cent increase for this year. Pay at Network Rail will rise by 4.5 per cent this year. The news has come just over a week since drivers belonging to ASLEF also voted to accept a new offer which had been made during talks at the Department for Transport. The vote among RMT members at train operators was 98.8 per cent in favour, on a turnout of 80.7 per cent. At Network Rail, 88.7 per cent were in favour, and the turnout was 79.7 per cent. The RMT said: ‘This outcome reflects the collective efforts of our membership in defending their jobs, working conditions, pay, and pensions from the attacks of the previous Tory government and their private contractors. We thank our members for their efforts during this long but successful campaign.’ The union also confirmed its commitment to public ownership of the railways. The Bill making nationalisation of the passenger operators the default rather than the last resort is due to be debated in the House of Lords on 7 October. Transport secretary Louise Haigh said: ‘This is a necessary step towards fixing our railways and getting the country moving. It will ensure a more reliable service by helping to protect passengers from national strikes, and crucially, it clears the way for vital reform and modernising working practices to ensure a better performing railway for everyone.’

Avanti West Coast, owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia, is unlikely to have its contract terminated early, according to reports this morning. The operator has been in trouble over high levels of cancellations, and Transport for the North has called for the government to end the contract, claiming that its terms have been breached. Mayors in the north of England have supported TfN, with Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham urging the transport secretary to take action. But legal advice since provided to Louise Haigh says Avanti is not in breach, according to the Financial Times. First Rail managing director Steve Montgomery has defended his company’s position, saying: ‘FirstGroup has not done anything wrong.’ Unconfirmed reports allege that the company’s current National Rail Contract had 'rewarded failure' and had been written in a way that would make it ’difficult’ for the company to commit a breach on performance grounds. The Department for Transport has not commented on this. Avanti had been given two six-month contracts to provide an opportunity for recovery, and was then granted a National Rail Contract which started on 15 October 2023 with a minimum contract term of three years, so that the first termination date is 18 October 2026. The government's Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill is set to receive its second reading in the House of Lords on 7 October. When passed, it will make public ownership of passenger operating contracts the default, rather than the last resort. Four English operators have been renationalised since 2018, and ten former franchises are currently still in the private sector. Two of these, Chiltern Railways and Govia Thameslink Railway, are due to reach contract break points on 1 April next year, when they could be terminated.