Drivers belonging to ASLEF have voted by a large majority to continue strikes and other industrial action at the English train operators. In most cases fewer than 10 per cent of those who voted opposed more action in the continuing pay dispute. On Island Line, all 10 ASLEF drivers voted in favour of further strikes. The ballot results have come just after ASLEF members in Scotland rejected a pay offer from ScotRail, although the RMT has accepted it. ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘Once again our members have decided, and made it clear that we are in this for the long haul. ‘Train drivers are sick to the back teeth of their employers and the government failing to negotiate in good faith, and blaming drivers for their inability to manage services and the rail industry effectively. ‘ASLEF members, the key workers who kept our country moving through the pandemic, are simply asking for a fair deal on pay so that they can afford to keep up with their outgoings in this government-made cost of living crisis. ‘We have always said we are prepared to come to the table but the government and the train companies need to understand that this dispute won’t be resolved by trying to bully our members into accepting worse terms and conditions.’ The Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport have yet to comment.

Transport secretary Mark Harper has appointed Keith Smithson and Joanna Davinson as new non-executive directors of HS2 Ltd. The Department for Transport said Keith and Joanna will work alongside HS2 Ltd’s chair Sir Jonathan Thompson, to ‘provide oversight and accountability’ and ‘ensuring costs are controlled’ and the project completed ‘in the most effective way for taxpayers’. HS2 continues to be the focus of speculation about the future of London Euston as the city centre terminus. Work on the site has been paused for two years while the costs of building onwards from Old Oak Common are reviewed. Joanna Davinson is a civil servant who has served as the executive director of the Central Digital and Data Office at the Cabinet Office, while Keith Smithson comes from the financial sector. He has already held several executive positions at organisations like HSBC, Paragon Banking Group and accountants KPMG.  Transport secretary Mark Harper said: ‘I’m delighted to make these updates to the board today and welcome Joanna and Keith to the team. ‘They bring with them a wealth of experience and I’m confident the right people are in place to robustly grip costs, hold HS2 Ltd to account and drive forward this revolutionary project.’ Deputy chair Elaine Holt and the government’s special director Ian King have been reappointed for a further four years. Dame Judith Hackitt and Stephen Hughes have also been reappointed as non-executive directors for a further three years. Mel Ewell and Roger Mountford left the Board recently as non-executive directors having completed full terms on the HS2 board.

Members of the drivers’ union ASLEF have rejected a pay offer from ScotRail. The vote has followed a decision by members of the RMT to accept a similar offer, which includes a pay rise worth 5 per cent. ASLEF called for pay talks to restart in the wake of its members’ vote, in which 51.6 per cent opposed settlement. ScotRail service delivery director David Simpson said: ‘It is incredibly disappointing that ASLEF members have voted against this offer. The offer was a strong one, which gives drivers a well-deserved pay rise while also delivering good value for the taxpayer. We remain committed to working with ASLEF to agree a pay deal for our drivers.’ ASLEF’s organiser in Scotland Kevin Lindsay said: ‘Like other workers, our members are experiencing the impact of rocketing food, fuel and energy costs. ’But we also know the important service Scotland's train drivers provide and that's why we are calling for pay talks with ScotRail to begin again immediately so we can take forward meaningful discussion on fair pay.’

Rail minister Huw Merriman is launching Rail Day at King’s Cross station in London this morning. The event marks the start of Better Transport Week, which is being promoted by the Campaign for Better Transport. It aims to promote the wide range of benefits of public transport, shared mobility, walking and cycling and to encourage more people to travel sustainably. Huw Merriman said: ‘It’s great to be waving the flag for rail – one of the greenest forms of transport – and kickstarting Better Transport Week. As a Government, we recognise our railways will be key to unlocking a more sustainable transport network which is why, amongst many initiatives, we’ve electrified more than 1,200 miles of track in the past decade alone.   ‘Over the past 50 years, Campaign for Better Transport has been doing a fantastic job at shining a valuable spotlight on the green transport options already out there and promoting the wide range of benefits of public transport, walking and cycling brings. Here’s to the next 50.’

The Victorian railway viaduct which spans the Thames south of Oxford has reopened a day earlier than planned, after weeks of major reconstruction was completed. Engineers have had to rebuild the south abutment of Nuneham Viaduct, which was built in 1856 and showed dangerous signs of movement in early April, closing the busy line between Oxford and Didcot Parkway. All through traffic had to stop, including 40 freight trains a day, which were diverted. Passengers had to use replacement buses, while Chiltern Railways services between Oxford and London via Bicester have been much busier. The first passenger train across the bridge this morning was a shuttle service from Didcot Parkway to Oxford. Network Rail said about 800 people have worked nearly 60,000 hours since the first week of April. In the past week, the 150-tonne bridge has been lowered on to the new abutment so that the tracks and cables could be reinstated. The work has been described as complex and challenging, requiring some heavy engineering. Twenty-four steel piles, each 15m long, were driven into the river bed, and another eight were driven up to 20m into the embankment.A 750-tonne crane was used and 4,500 tonnes of material was removed, to be replaced by another 5,500 tonnes for the new embankment. The job isn’t quite over. Engineers will remain at the site for another 12 weeks to finish the work completely. Network Rail capital delivery director Stuart Calvert said: ‘We’re extremely pleased to be able to reopen the railway through Nuneham ahead of schedule.  ‘A complex and challenging repair like this would normally take two to three years to complete, but thanks to the hard work and dedication of our talented teams of engineers, and industry experts, this major project has been turned around in just under ten weeks. ‘Once again, I would like to thank our passengers, freight customers, local community and our industry partners for their patience, understanding and support whilst we carried out this work, which will protect this important rail link for generations to come.’

Travelcards ++ Consumer watchdog London TravelWatch is opposing suggestions that TfL should scrap Day Travelcards in a bid to boost revenue. LTW said scrapping the cards during a cost-of-living squeeze ‘will make things more challenging and expensive’ for many passengers. First results ++ FirstGroup has reported adjusted operating profit of £154.4 million for the last financial year, as compared with £226.8 million a year earlier. First has launched open access operator Lumo, and has gained a new National Rail contract for Great Western Railway until June 2025, with an option for the DfT to extend it to June 2028. The South Western Railway contract, in which First has an interest of 70 per cent, has also been extended, to May 2025. However, First has now lost TransPennine Express, which was renationalised on 28 May this year, while the future of Avanti West Coast remains uncertain. Commissioner confirmed ++ Transport for London has confirmed that Andy Lord has been appointed as transport commissioner, after a period as interim commissioner, following the departure of Andy Byford last October. Andy Lord joined TfL in November 2019 as managing director of London Underground and became chief operating officer for all TfL operations last year.

Passengers return ++ The number of journeys made on London Underground is back to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, according to Transport for London. A total of 91 million journeys were made on the system in April, compared with 101 million in April 2019. Travel on the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, trams and buses has also increased. Fraud ++ ScotRail is appointing 42 Revenue Protection Officers in a bid to reduce fraudulent travel, which is estimated to cost around £2 million a year.  A pilot scheme using new ticket validation machines has also been taking place over the last few weeks at stations such as Edinburgh, Glasgow Central, Glasgow Queen Street, Croy, High Street (Glasgow), Rutherglen, and Paisley Canal. The devices are designed to alert staff if an invalid ticket is presented. Resignation ++ Scottish transport minister Kevin Stewart has resigned, only three months since he had been appointed. In a letter to the First Minister Humza Yousaf, Mr Stewart explains that he has had ‘ bouts of poor mental health, with a low ebb in early December of last year.  Over the last week or so I have once again been feeling unwell and I feel that I can no longer put in the hours required to serve both my constituents and hold ministerial office, whilst also trying to maintain good mental health. I do hope that you understand.’ Mr Stewart is not stepping down from his post as MSP for Aberdeen Central.

A new station has been confirmed by the Department for Transport for Cambridge South, with aid of funding worth £200 million. It will be convenient for the Biomedical Campus, which is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe, and also near 4,000 new houses. Trains calling at Cambridge South will include those on East West Rail from Bedford. The four-platform station is intended to be completed by 2025. The DfT added that 300 jobs will be created by the construction project, and the station is expected to be used by 1.8 million passengers annually. Rail minister Huw Merriman said: ‘This brand new station will not only benefit local passengers but deliver a major boost to the entire city, improving connectivity to a world-leading academic hub while unlocking local business and growth opportunities across the region. ‘This is just another step in our efforts to create a thriving, well-connected, passenger focused rail network to support communities for generations to come.’ ’During construction, 300 new jobs will be created in the local area and once delivered, the station will act as a key transport link between the biomedical campus and international gateways such as Stansted Airport and the Eurostar, boosting the travel network right across the region.’ Cambridge South will be the second new station for the university city in less than a decade. Cambridge North was opened in 2017.

Updated 9.35Two days of serious railway disruption have started, as the RMT stages a 24-hour strike today and ASLEF follows tomorrow. The RMT has written to MPs on both sides of the house in a fresh bid to move the dispute forward. Nearly all English National Rail operators are affected by the latest walkouts, apart from Merseyrail. However, services on c2c are not expected to change very much, except that 12-car trains will not be able to call at Limehouse. There is serious disruption on other lines, where services have been sharply reduced. Many local lines have no trains at all. The lack of trains will make travelling a problem for thousands of people trying to reach several major events, including Saturday's FA Cup Final at Wembley, the England v Ireland Test match at Lord's, the Epsom Derby and a Beyoncé concert at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London. Trains are running as usual on the ScotRail and Transport for Wales networks, but intercity services from England to both those countries are being disrupted. Some Transport for Wales services are also being affected by a shortage of rolling stock, but this is not connected with industrial disputes. There has already been one ASLEF strike this week, and although no further dates have been announced there has been little sign of progress in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions, which began a year ago. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has written to all MPs, criticising the government for its handling of the dispute. He accuses the government of deliberately ‘squandering billions of pounds on a futile war against the rail unions’ and he is demanding that MPs write to the Prime Minister ‘to insist the government facilitate an improved offer that "will protect staffing and services and deliver a fairer deal for rail workers’. He has also issued a new message to RMT members, calling them to continue to ‘stand firm’. The Rail Delivery Group has responded:‘There have been three pay deals offered which the RMT executive have reneged despite their negotiators in the room agreeing the terms. We’ve said all along we just want railway workers to have their say on the fair and affordable offer of up to a 13 per cent rise over two years, plus guarantees on job security. ‘While their rhetoric continues, this is merely a diversion to the very real financial challenge the industry is facing with taxpayers still shelling out  up to an extra £175 million a month to keep the trains running by making up the 20 per cent shortfall in revenue post-Covid. The only way to afford it is by bringing in long overdue, common-sense reforms that would improve services and punctuality for our passengers. In most cases, these simply extend best practice already in place in parts of the network.  ‘The RMT leadership must recognise the way our passengers use the railway has changed for good, and work with us to adapt so we can​ secure the long-term future of an industry. The only thing they have achieved is continuing to take money out of their members pockets, inflicting misery on thousands of people and damaging an industry which is vital to Britain’s economy and their own members’ livelihoods. ‘We urge the RMT leadership to engage seriously with the financial challenges the industry faces, agree between them what they want from the negotiation and come back to the table, so we can resolve this dispute for the sake of everyone who relies on the railway.’

Train fires ++ A shortage of Alstom-built Class 175 diesel units is continuing on Transport for Wales routes, as the result of a series of fires which have been traced to contaminated engine bays in which fuel deposits had accumulated. All the bays are being deep-cleaned, but the Office of Rail and Road issued an Improvement Notice in March. The work must be completed by 17 September. Line closed ++ There will be no trains between Leeds and Huddersfield for two days this month, as the second phase of work to upgrade Morley station begins as part of the TransPennine Route Upgrade. The closure between Leeds and Huddersfield will be on 17 and 18 June, and the work at Morley will continue until 25 June. During this time, engineers will demolish and rebuild the platforms, change the track layout and redirect signalling circuits to the ROC at York. Opportunities ++ Jobseekers who want to work in construction are being encouraged to register for a new two-week pre-employment programme that could lead to an apprenticeship with HS2’s construction partner, Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall. Applications are now open for 24 new apprenticeships which will start on 12 July.