Derailment ++ It is hoped that trains will start running again between Carlisle, Hexham and Skipton early next month, as work to clear the site of the derailment of a cement train near Carlisle continues. Network Rail has revealed that the accident on 19 October damaged 80 metres of track and destroyed 41 metres of a bridge parapet while work has been continuing to remove the overturned wagons, which had been carrying 300 tonnes of powered cement. Network Rail senior programme manager Mark Evans said: ‘A great deal of preparation work has gone into the complex lifting of the wagons, with the main crane now towering above the city.’ Vandalism ++ East Midlands Railway is appealing for help from people who know about ‘reckless acts’ which involve objects being dumped on the line. They have included a microwave oven, a shopping trolley and a bicycle. There was been a total of 10 such incidents over the past year, while bricks and stones have also been thrown at trains on 14 occasions. EMR is the second operator to report incidents of vandalism recently, after Northern said its trains had also been put at risk on many occasions. East Midlands Railway is now installing high-definition CCTV which can be monitored by British Transport Police.

The train drivers’ union ASLEF has called another 24-hour strike at 12 train operating companies on 26 November.  ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: ’We regret that passengers will be inconvenienced for another day. We don’t want to be taking this action. Withdrawing our labour is always a last resort for a trade union. ’We have come to the table, as we always will, in good faith but while the industry continues to make no offer – due to the dodgy deal they signed with the DfT – we have no choice but to take strike action again. ‘They want drivers to take a real terms pay cut. With inflation now well into double figures, train drivers who kept Britain moving through the pandemic are now being expected to work just as hard this year as last year but for less.’ The Rail Delivery Group responded: ‘We are incredibly frustrated. We regret Aslef’s decision, which will cause real disruption to passengers and hit its members’ pay packets. Instead of staging more counterproductive strike action which increases the very real financial challenge the industry is facing, we ask them to work with us to secure both a pay deal and the changes needed it for it to thrive in the long-term and improve reliability across the network.’ Meanwhile, ASLEF members at LNER will be refusing to work any overtime which is not part of a contract from 27 November, in a dispute over the way overtime is arranged. However, ScotRail has reached agreement with the RMT that its pay offer will be put to the union’s members through a referendum. The RMT’s overtime ban and any proposed strikes will be suspended until the outcome of the vote is known. There would be an average pay increase of 7.5 per cent for general grades, which include conductors, ticket examiners and station staff. Salaries for lower paid staff would increase by more than 8.5 per cent.

There are very few trains running on the London Underground today because the RMT is staging a 24-hour strike. Transport for London said it was also not expecting to run any London Overground services on the lines from Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford, while both Overground and DLR trains may not be stopping at stations managed by London Underground. Elizabeth Line services did not call at stations between Bond Street and Whitechapel before 07.00 this morning, and will not do so again after 22.30 this evening. There could be some further disruption early tomorrow until services can return to normal. First electrification masts appear on Valley Lines The first masts are being installed on the Valley Lines in South Wales, as electrification gets into its stride. Work has started at Radyr, but the overhead will eventually cover 170km of track to Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr, Rhymney and Coryton, as well as the Bay and City Lines. However, Transport for Wales is concerned that local people may not appreciate the new hazards facing trespassers where there are 25kV cables. Sgt Tomos Van Praet from British Transport Police said: ‘With the new electrified lines being installed, it is especially important that parents talk to their children about the dangers of the railway.’

Higher profit ++ FirstGroup has attributed most of its increased group operating profit in the half year to 24 September to higher revenue from open access operations Hull Trains and Lumo, and says its revenue from National Rail management fees is ‘broadly in line with management expectations’. Group adjusted operating profit in the half year was £66.1 million, compared with £51.8 million a year earlier. First declared a dividend of 0.9p, saying ‘we expect higher profit from our open access operations’, although it also warns that ‘the political, economic and industrial relations backdrop and pace of travel volume recovery are challenges’. Travel offer ++ Eurostar and Thalys are making their first combined ticket offer since the two operators were merged in May. Passengers can buy single tickets for £29 or €29 for journeys on both networks, although passengers from London who change trains at Brussels to travel on to German destinations by Thalys will pay the same amount again. The possible travel dates are from 28 November to 2 February 2023. The booking window is short, because it will be open only until 10 November.

A bridge in Rutland was so seriously damaged by a lorry on 5 November that the railway may be closed between Leicester and Peterborough for the next three weeks, Replacement buses are running and freight trains carrying essential goods are being diverted via London. Fosters Bridge at Ketton crosses the A6121, which will also be closed until repairs can be completed. Trains return ++ More trains are running today after the cancellation of three 24-hour RMT strikes at the eleventh hour on Friday afternoon. Train operators were unable to change the rosters for thousands of drivers and other train crew immediately, and timetables are slowly returning to normal day by day. The strikes would have been staged on Saturday, Monday and tomorrow, and ‘intense negotiations’ between the RMT, Network Rail and train operators are now underway. The union has also warned that more strikes may be called unless there is a settlement, and a ballot of its members authorising fresh walkouts until April closes a week today. Metro expansion ++ Transport North East has set out a business case for an extension of the Tyne & Wear Metro which would give Washington a rail connection and also be the start of reinstating the Leamside line. The Washington Metro Loop would include new stations at Follingsby, Washington North and Washington South. The scheme would cost £745 million, and TNE said the trains would replace 1.7 million car journeys a year.

Many train operators are running more trains today, after their timetables were slashed in expectation of strikes on Saturday, today and Wednesday. But others are warning that service reductions will continue for now. The RMT cancelled the walkouts on Friday afternoon because talks with Network Rail and the operators are now said to be progressing. However, it is taking several days to restore all normal services, which some operators say is mainly because of the complexity of rearranging rosters. Among individual operators, Transport for Wales is expecting to run most services from this morning, although some local disruption has not been ruled out. Greater Anglia is promising a full timetable from today, and so is Merseyrail, while ScotRail is expecting to restore all services from tomorrow. Govia Thameslink is not expecting to be back to normal until Wednesday, while the recovery is slower on Northern, which said: ‘We are working up a plan to run a fuller service on Wednesday.’ TransPennine Express is also hoping to run more trains from Wednesday, and so is Chiltern Railways. GWR has been unable to say when all its trains will run again, but warned disruption will be continuing today. West Midlands Railway services are also still reduced, and WMR has not yet said when full timetables will be restored. LNER said that its reduced timetables will continue, saying only: ‘Due to the late notice of these cancelled strikes, there will be limited changes to the planned reduced timetables.’ Southeastern said its strike-day timetables will continue to apply, along with ‘limited changes to the planned reduced timetables’. South Western Railway services will also be limited today, but SWR said it could confirm that full services would be restored from Wednesday. Avanti West Coast had been running a reduced service in any case, and it has also been unable to predict details of its service levels, saying only that it will still be providing only a limited ‘strike day’ timetable today and on Wednesday. Avanti told its passengers: ‘We’re currently working hard to rebuild our timetable in a resilient and sustainable way that will allow us to gradually increase services without being reliant on traincrew overtime, which has fallen dramatically in recent weeks. ‘As a result, our upcoming timetables are being amended on a rolling basis and will be confirmed at shorter notice than usual. While the timetable is available on our website and app, some services are still subject to change or will not operate at all. We know we’re not delivering the service you rightly expect and we're sorry for the enormous frustration and inconvenience this is causing. We’d like to thank you for your continued patience and understanding.’ After the strikes had been called off, the Rail Delivery Group had said: ‘It is positive that the RMT leadership have stepped back from the brink and called off their strike action. Unfortunately, the late notice means that while train companies are working hard to reinstate services, they will remain severely disrupted for our passengers tomorrow and into the early part of next week.’

The RMT has performed a sudden u-turn by cancelling three imminent national strikes. The unexpected change of heart, just before a weekend, has come too late to save train services during the next few days which had been cut back sharply by operators expecting mass walkouts, with the first set for today (5 November). It was also too late to avoid a strike on West Midlands Railway yesterday (4 November). A separate walkout is still due on London Underground on 10 November. More strikes had been called on Network Rail on the 7th and at Network Rail and the operators on the 9th. These have also been cancelled, but train services may still be disrupted. The RMT said its change of heart was because it had secured ‘unconditional’ talks with Network Rail and the promise of an offer from the operators ‘who up until this point, have made no offer of any kind’. It also emphasised the dispute remained ‘very much alive’. General secretary Mick Lynch added: ‘The threat of strike action and our strongly supported industrial campaign has made the employers see sense. ‘We have always wanted to secure a negotiated settlement and that is what we will continue to push for in this next phase of intensive talks.’ In contradiction, railway employers and the government have been telling journalists that their position is unchanged. Meanwhile, members of the RMT are still being asked to vote on whether to continue industrial action until April. The ballot closes on 15 November. Mr Lynch continued: ‘The re-ballot remains live and if we have to take strike action during the next six months to secure a deal, we will.’ The Rail Delivery Group, speaking for the operators, said: ’It is positive that the RMT leadership have stepped back from the brink. We remain committed to intensive negotiations to agree the reforms needed to improve reliability, deliver a pay rise for our people and get the industry back on a sustainable financial footing.’

The number of people travelling on National Rail and the London Underground is continuing to rise, with the demand over some weekends greater than it was before the Covid lockdowns. The quietest day of the week is Monday, with more commuters travelling on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. There are also fewer commuters on Fridays, but their absence is offset by the increasing number of people travelling for leisure purposes on a day which is increasingly seen as the start of the weekend. On London Underground there were 78 per cent of pre-Covid passengers in the week ending 28 October, reports the Times. The figures for the start of September were 71 per cent, compared with 45 per cent in January. At the weekends passenger travel is back to more than 90 per cent and sometimes more than before the lockdowns. On National Rail the recovery is also continuing, and as on the Underground the quietest days of the week for commuters are Mondays and Fridays. Network Rail says the number of National Rail passengers in the London area is back to 99 per cent of pre-Covid levels. Again, Fridays are busy, but mainly because of the large numbers of leisure travellers rather than commuters. The news on revenue is not quite so rosy, because fewer passengers are travelling on First Class tickets or buying classic seasons. It is not clear how successful the new ‘flexible’ seasons have proved to be. Southeastern reported recently that the number of its passengers now holding full-time seasons has fallen back to 15 per cent of commuters. It is also abolishing First Class on its mainline trains, reflecting the change in travel habits and releasing more seats for other passengers. The increases are being recorded in spite of repeated industrial action this year. A strike is disrupting West Midlands Railway services today, and it will be followed by a series of more general strikes from tomorrow.

Planned 24-hour strikes by 40,000 RMT members at Network Rail and National Rail operators in England which had been called for today have been postponed until 9 November because today is Poppy Day in London. It’s the second time time this year that the RMT has changed industrial action to avoid disrupting an important event. The first was in September, when three strikes were cancelled during the period of Royal Mourning to show respect for the late Queen. The postponement of action on National Rail today also means there will be no disruption on Transport for London services, which would have been affected. However the London Underground will still be affected by an RMT strike on 10 November, while RMT strikes will be staged at Network Rail on 5 and 7 and 9 November, with train operators in England also involved on the 5th and the 9th. The walkouts of Network Rail staff will also disrupt train services throughout Britain, including some on TfL, because many signallers will be absent.

The long-running programme of upgrades on the Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield is continuing. Two possessions on the eastern end of the route have been arranged for two Sundays this month so that a new loop can be laid and a railway underbridge extended, widening the formation for future double track. Dore & Totley station will also become more accessible. Trains will not run between Sheffield and Edale on 13 and 20 November so that the work can go ahead. Network Rail will lay new track at Bamford in preparation for a new four-track loop between there and Hathersage, while the underbridge will be widened at Dore & Totley so that the line through the station can be doubled in future. Principal programme sponsor Hannah Lomas said: ‘The next phase of construction work has started on the Hope Valley line, continuing the essential upgrade to make Dore & Totley station more accessible and train services between Manchester and Sheffield more reliable.’