A derailment at Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria is set to block the line for another two weeks, Network Rail has warned. The accident happened early on 22 March. No one was hurt, but a derailed Northern unit has damaged the track. Engineers have been investigating conditions at the scene, because a void in the ground was found about 150m from the derailment. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has also been gathering evidence. Work to clear the line will involve using a crane to lift the train and then repairing the ground and the line. Some new track will be necessary. Network Rail’s North West route infrastructure director Chris Pye said: ‘On the rare occasions trains leave tracks like this it can cause extensive damage and unfortunately this incident is no exception. The additional problem with the ground conditions means this is an especially complicated recovery process.’ Services over Easter were already set to be affected by other engineering work which was not connected with the derailment. Trains are running from today between Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, while buses are replacing trains between Barrow and Lancaster.

Four passengers and four members of railway staff were unhurt when a Northern unit was derailed between Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness early today. The line will be closed for some time yet, while inspectors from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch gather evidence. Although the cause of the accident is not yet known, Network Rail said that the area was ‘extremely wet’, and that engineers have discovered a void in the ground that had opened around 150m from the derailment, which occurred near Grange-over-Sands station at about 06.00 this morning. Network Rail’s North West route infrastructure director Chris Pye said: ‘All lines through this area remain blocked, meaning trains are currently unable to run between Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster. Northern regional director Craig Harrop added: ‘We're working closely with Network Rail and others to understand more about what happened. ‘No trains are running between Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster and there will be significant disruption to our services in this area.’

The Government has rejected a call from the Board of Transport for the North to end the Avanti West Coast contract, which is owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia. The two companies were granted a National Rail Contract for AWC which started last October and could run until 2032 after two periods of ‘probation’ to allow performance problems to be resolved. The TfN Board has protested about the continuing high level of cancellations, and voted yesterday at its meeting in Leeds to write to transport secretary Mark Harper, calling for AWC to be transferred to the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort as soon as possible. During Transport Questions in the House of Commons today, Labour’s shadow rail minister Stephen Morgan asked: ‘It's a simple question to the Minister today. Will he strip Avanti of its contract: Yes or No?’ Rail minister Huw Merriman replied: ‘No Mr Speaker, we will not.’  Mr Morgan’s colleague, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh, said: ‘There has been nothing more emblematic of the managed decline of Britain’s railways than Avanti West Coast being awarded a nine-year contract extension despite failing passengers again and again. ‘Labour has long been clear that if Avanti is in breach of its contractual obligations, then it should be stripped of that contract. Ministers need to explain whether this is the case and why they are refusing to act. ‘Under the Conservatives, failing operators are rewarded with contract extensions and second chances. ‘With Labour, rail franchises will be brought back into public ownership as contracts expire or are broken.’

Updated 12.50The Office of Rail and Road has revealed that 417 million passenger journeys were made on National Rail during the last three months of 2023, which was an increase of 20 per cent when compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The total for 2023 was 1,570 million, which again showed a 20 per cent increase compared with 2022. Passenger kilometres rose by the same percentage, to 15.2 billion between October and December. Revenue was also up, from £2.2 billion in the last quarter of 2022 to £2.6 billion in the same quarter last year. The increases have been recorded in spite of seven days of industrial action in the last three months of 2023, which could mean falls in ‘trains planned’ of as much as 68 per cent on the worst affected days. The ORR pointed out that the figures are also affected by split ticketing, which increases the number of individual journeys, and also by the fact that the statistics count each train used by a passenger, so that if a change of train is needed another journey is added to the total. The private sector lobby group Rail Partners said: 'Although the latest ORR data shows an increase in passenger numbers, passengers are still not using trains at the levels seen before the pandemic. ‘This underlines the urgent need for rail reform to create a new public body to oversee the railways, but also to give operators the commercial freedoms to attract customers back to rail.’ The chief executive of the Railway Industry Association Darren Caplan said: ‘The return to rail continues apace and this substantial 20 per cent uplift year-on-year is a really encouraging increase in the number of passenger journeys and revenues. ‘This follows the excellent recent DfT passenger statistics which – despite changing calculations methodologies to exclude all Elizabeth Line passengers – have in March exceeded 100 per cent of pre-Covid figures. Inclusion of those passengers would take overall numbers to nearly 110 per cent, which is real progress considering the comparison year, 2019-20, was the second highest on record. ‘These new ORR and DfT figures are a reminder that the railway will need more capacity in the future, especially with the recent RIA-commissioned Steer report forecasting passenger numbers to grow between 37 per cent and 97 per cent to 2050, depending on which policy the Government adopts in the coming years.’

Trains have started to serve Telford Central again, after a landslip near Oakengates closed the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury line on 8 March. Network Rail engineers had discovered that 5,000 tonnes of material had slipped beneath 50 metres of the railway, after persistent heavy rain over the past few months had weakened the structure. Although the line is still blocked between Wellington and Oakengates, train services were resumed between Birmingham and Shifnal on Monday. West Midlands Railway said it was not possible then to continue beyond Shifnal to Telford Central, because the track layout imposed ‘operational challenges’. In particular, there is only one crossover, which is midway between Shifnal and Telford at Madeley Junction. However, WMR said a safe method of working has now been agreed, and Telford Central reopened to rail traffic this morning, with a limited number of trains departing towards Wolverhampton and Birmingham again. The westbound train service from Telford towards Shrewsbury is still suspended, while Network Rail engineers continue with repairs. Network Rail estimates that the line will stay closed for at least another week, and buses are replacing westbound trains.

The Office of Rail and Road has defended its decision to cause the Jacobite heritage steam service in the western Highlands of Scotland to be suspended because doors on the coaches have no central locking. Its operator West Coast Railways had been ordered to take coaches not equipped with full central locking out of service. The use of coaches with hinged doors had been covered by an exemption, but that has now been withdrawn, although WCR had asked for it to continue. WCR commercial manager James Shuttleworth said: ‘We are disappointed to have to suspend this service and we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers who have booked trips. We again appeal to the ORR to reconsider our request for a temporary exemption.’ The ORR has responded: ‘All heritage operators were told several years ago that in order to operate after 31 March 2023 they either needed to fit central door locking or obtain an exemption from us. West Coast Railways’ application for an exemption failed and they made a claim for judicial review. A temporary exemption was granted in order to maintain the status quo, enabling WCR to operate whilst the litigation reached a conclusion. ‘Despite this, WCR chose to sell tickets when it was far from certain that a new application for an exemption would be granted, either in time for the commencement of services, or at all. It submitted an exemption application on 8 March, which we are now assessing. ORR is disappointed that WCR appears not to have made sensible contingency plans for the benefit of their customers.’

The Office of Rail and Road has defended its decision to force the Jacobite heritage steam service in the western Highlands of Scotland to be suspended because doors on the coaches have no central locking. Its operator West Coast Railways had been ordered to take coaches not equipped with full central locking out of service. The use of coaches with hinged doors had been covered by an exemption, but that has now been withdrawn, although WCR had asked for it to continue. WCR commercial manager James Shuttleworth said: ‘We are disappointed to have to suspend this service and we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers who have booked trips. We again appeal to the ORR to reconsider our request for a temporary exemption.’ The ORR has responded: ‘All heritage operators were told several years ago that in order to operate after 31 March 2023 they either needed to fit central door locking or obtain an exemption from us. West Coast Railways’ application for an exemption failed and they made a claim for judicial review. A temporary exemption was granted in order to maintain the status quo, enabling WCR to operate whilst the litigation reached a conclusion. ‘Despite this, WCR chose to sell tickets when it was far from certain that a new application for an exemption would be granted, either in time for the commencement of services, or at all. It submitted an exemption application on 8 March, which we are now assessing. ORR is disappointed that WCR appears not to have made sensible contingency plans for the benefit of their customers.’

The Board of Transport for the North has voted for the termination of the Avanti West Coast contract, which it says should be taken back into public control ‘at the earliest possibility’. The meeting in Leeds had considered a report which said ‘a continuation of the current situation is unacceptable to the North’, and members approved a motion for a letter to be sent to transport secretary Mark Harper, calling for the operator to be transferred to the DfT’s Operator of Last Resort, at least for now.  The OLR has already taken over four other former franchises in England, starting with LNER in 2018, which had been the failed Virgin Trains East Coast. Avanti West Coast had been granted a National Rail Contract last October, after periods of ‘probationary’ operation. This contract is due to run until October 2032 at the latest. Two options were considered by the Board. One was to set a target for improvement by June or face ‘further measures’ or to terminate the contract straight away.  After hearing from Avanti’s managing director Steve Montgomery about the poor performance over many months the board chose the second option. TfN wrote to the transport secretary in December, asking him to instruct officials to conduct a critical review of Avanti West Coast, given the deteriorating service, after the operator announced a number of cuts to services over Christmas. TfN chair Lord McLoughlin said: ‘Today’s board was very clear. The performance on the West Coast Main Line by Avanti has been so poor, for so long that action now must be taken. ‘We will be writing statutory advice today to the secretary of state calling for Avanti to be relieved of its contract. The travelling public deserve a service they can rely on. But Avanti has fallen far too short of expectations for far too long now.’

ASLEF has called a new series of strikes for early April, which will affect most operators in England over several days. The union has also announced a series of bans on rest day working and two days of strikes on London Underground. The union’s members will walk out at Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains and CrossCountry on Friday 5 April, at Chiltern Railways, GWR, LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express on 6 April, and at c2c, Greater Anglia, Govia Thameslink Railway, Southeastern and South Western Railway (main line, depot drivers and Island Line) on 8 April. They will also refuse to work rest days from Thursday 4 to Saturday 6 April and from Monday 8 to Tuesday 9 April. ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘Last month, when we announced renewed mandates for industrial action, because, under the Tories’ draconian anti-union laws, we have to ballot our members every six months, we called on the train companies, and the government, to come to the table for meaningful talks to negotiate a new pay deal for train drivers who have not had an increase in salary since 2019. ‘Since then train drivers have voted, time and again, to take action in pursuit of a pay rise. That’s why Mark Harper, the transport secretary, is being disingenuous when he says that offer should have been put to members. Drivers wouldn’t vote for industrial action, again and again and again, if they thought that was a good offer. They don’t. That offer was dead in the water in April last year – and Mr Harper knows that. ‘We asked Mr Harper, or his deputy, the rail minister Huw Merriman, to come and meet us. We asked the RDG and the TOCs to come and talk to us. We said: “Let’s sit around the table and negotiate.” Because you say you don’t want any more industrial action, and we don’t want to disrupt the rail network, but the Tories and the TOCs have given us no choice. ‘We haven’t heard from Mr Harper, Mr Merriman, the RDG, or the TOCs since those new mandates were announced four weeks ago. In fact, Mr Harper hasn’t deigned to talk to us since December 2022; Mr Merriman hasn’t talked to us since January 2023; and the RDG has not seen fit to join us in the room since April last year.’ The Rail Delivery Group responded: ‘Nobody wins when industrial action impacts people's lives and livelihoods, and we will work hard to minimise any disruption to our passengers. ‘We want to resolve this dispute, but the ASLEF leadership need to recognise that hard-pressed taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running post-Covid. We continue to seek an agreement with the ASLEF leadership and remain open to talks to find a solution to this dispute.’ Meanwhile, members of ASLEF who drive London Underground trains will strike on 8 April and 4 May. ASLEF’s full-time organiser on London Underground Finn Brennan said the walkouts were part of a long-running dispute over ‘London Underground’s failure to give assurances that changes to our members’ terms and conditions will not be imposed without agreement and that all existing agreements will be honoured’. 

The Jacobite heritage steam service in the western Highlands of Scotland has been suspended until further notice. Its operator, West Coast Railways, has been ordered to take coaches not equipped with full central locking out of service by the Office of Rail and Road. The use of coaches with hinged doors had been covered by an exemption, but that has now been withdrawn, although WCR has asked for it to continue. WCR commercial manager James Shuttleworth said: ‘We are disappointed to have to suspend this service and we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers who have booked trips. We again appeal to the ORR to reconsider our request for a temporary exemption. ‘The Jacobite service is enjoyed by thousands of customers every year. It boosts the local economies of Mallaig and Fort William and brings an estimated £20 million into the UK’s tourism sector. If the ORR does not grant us a further exemption, we believe this could lead to up to £50 million in lost value to both local and national communities. ‘We remain committed to working with the ORR to find a long-term solution which safeguards the future of heritage services on the main line.’ WCR added that passengers with bookings for the Jacobite will be offered a full refund.