THE National Infrastructure Commission has published a new assessment which reduces the importance of the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds via the East Midlands in favour of regional schemes. The recommendations have angered and dismayed politicians and business leaders, with Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood describing the proposals as ‘an

THE first intercity train in Britain to use batteries is to be developed by Hitachi and Eversholt Rail, for trial service on the Great Western Main Line. The train will be a conversion of an existing bi-mode GWR Intercity Express, and the result will be a five-car unit which will be

Long-distance trains will run on battery power in a UK first, manufacturer Hitachi Rail has announced. The firm has launched a plan for Great Western Railway (GWR) services between London Paddington and Penzance, Cornwall, to operate by a combination of electricity, diesel and batteries. The line is only partially electrified, with the

Updated 11.45 A REPORT into two near-collisions at a level crossing in rural Norfolk has revealed that the track was contaminated with leaves, while the wheels of new trains on the route were only making contact in a ‘narrow band’ on the surface of the rail. Network Rail and Greater Anglia

NORTHERN is introducing a specialist team to patrol trains and stations in Greater Manchester. The 11 new recruits will be employed by Carlisle Support Services and they will be joining 55 Travel Safe Officers who already work on the Northern network. The additional TSOs will be based at Manchester Victoria and

THE Office of Rail and Road says 134 million journeys were made in the second quarter of the year, an increase of almost 100 million on the previous three months, when the first lockdowns began. Even so, the number in Q2 was less than a third of the ‘normal’ total

THE former Avanti West Coast and South Western Railway franchises will become management contracts when the present Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements come to an end. The move marks a further step towards abolishing the old-style franchises. FirstGroup, which is the majority shareholder in both contracts, said the changeover would come for

A STRIKE ballot held by the RMT on ScotRail has failed to attract enough votes in favour, and the union is blaming ‘ScotRail tactics’ and ‘prohibitive anti-union laws’ for the result.  The ballot produced 756 votes in favour of strikes and 631 against. This meant that 31 per cent of those

We’ve teamed up with one of the UK’s leading railway artist James Green GRA to offer you an outstanding prize worth £330! The winner will receive a collection of SIX mounted limited edition prints of their choice from the artist. Each hand signed and numbered limited edition print will be double mounted

THE RMT union has called off strikes which had been under way at two Alstom maintenance sites in north west England – but only for now. The sites affected are Longsight in Manchester, where Alstom maintains Avanti West Coast Pendolinos, and Chester, which takes care of the Class 175 fleet used