Photo: RAIB An inquest into the Croydon tram derailment in 2016 -which caused the deaths of seven people – has opened. A further 51 people were injured when the derailment happened in south London on November 9, 2016. Also see The inquest was initially due to begin in October 2020, but was postponed

REPORTS that the much-delayed Williams Review of the railway industry – now apparently renamed the ‘Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail’– could be published this week have sparked protests from the RMT union, which is predicting ‘a tsunami of cuts’ and widespread job losses. The main planks of Keith Williams’ reforms are said

LOCKDOWNS are being eased again from today, but the RMT says although it supports increases in public transport services it is also calling for ’zero tolerance’ of any breach of transport Covid safety measures or abuse of staff. Many operators are boosting their service levels in response to fewer restrictions, although

THE first of eight additional trams for West Midlands Metro has been delivered from Spain. Five of the eight CAF trams will be needed later this year when extensions open in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and have batteries as well as a conventional pantograph so that they can run on sections where

Updated 09.55, 10.08 A PLAN to bring Hitachi Intercity Express trains progressively back into service has been unveiled by Hitachi, the Rail Delivery Group and the operators affected by the discovery of hairline tracks on some units in Classes 800 and 385. Services are back to normal on Hull Trains, ScotRail and

EXCLUSIVE THE return of all Hitachi-built Intercity Expresses to normal service is ‘a long way off’, according to notes of an internal industry briefing seen by Railnews. The document also reveals that two types of cracking have been discovered and that welding to repair the damage will be a ‘highly specialist

TEST trains have started running every 15 minutes in the 42km central section of London Crossrail, and Crossrail says it is ‘on track’ for opening during the first half of 2022. The Trial Running programme involves integrated trials of the railway to demonstrate that the Elizabeth Line is safe and reliable,

THE disruption on intercity routes between London, Leeds and Edinburgh, and also between London, Bristol, south Wales and south west England is continuing today, after cracks were found in some Hitachi-built Intercity Express units on Saturday morning. After several days of speculation, the Rail Delivery Group has said the cracks were

Disruption to rail services due to cracks in trains is expected to continue for weeks. LNER tweeted a statement that the issue is “likely to be going on for a number of weeks”. Hitachi Class 800 trains were withdrawn from service on Saturday for safety checks after cracks were discovered in

Photo: PA Media Great Western Railway (GWR) and LNER services are being disrupted for a third day due to cracks in some Hitachi 800 trains. GWR advised passengers with tickets for long-distance journeys on Monday “not to travel” as there is “no service or an extremely limited service” between London Paddington and