Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivers his one-year Spending Review in the House of Commons. Photo: PA Media A further £2.1 billion of taxpayers’ money has been allocated to covering private train company losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Treasury announced the figure as part of its Department for Transport funding

THE price of keeping trains running in England during lockdown restrictions, when passenger figures and revenues fall sharply, is set to reach a total of £8 billion in the year to March 2021. The figure appears in the small print which accompanied today’s Spending Review. Light rail and trams in the provinces,

PEOPLE who want to take advantage of the eased Covid restrictions over Christmas are being urged to think carefully before choosing to travel by train. Transport secretary Grant Shapps has sounded a cautionary note in a BBC interview, mentioning major engineering work, a possible shortage of rail staff because of Covid

People should consider not travelling by train at Christmas due to the rail network’s “limitations”, Transport Secretary Grants Shapps has said. The Westminster Government and the devolved administrations are expected to announce later this week how coronavirus restrictions will be eased to allow people across the UK to spend the festive

THE famous Ribblehead viaduct which was at the centre of unsuccessful proposals to close the Settle & Carlisle Line in the 1980s is receiving more attention than ever, after Network Rail scanned the structure of the viaduct using drones, lasers and 3D software, turning the resulting data into a computer

Laser scanners and drones have been used to map every inch of the iconic Ribblehead viaduct as part of a major restoration project to secure its future for passengers and tourists. An essential upgrade to brickwork and drainage is underway on the 144-year-old structure which carries the historic Settle to Carlisle

THE delayed project to build Crossrail under central London, connecting it to existing railways on either side, may be held up once again – this time by the Covid pandemic and its effect on Transport for London revenues. The central section should have opened in 2018, but progress has been delayed

THE Department for Transport is paying National Rail operators who had been running franchises until March this year to keep going. The government takes the revenue and pays the bills, and the deficit so far has reached £4.2 billion. But does this amount to renationalisation, and should the state simply

PASSENGERS on Avanti West Coast have been able to travel at off-peak rates from the start of services today, and Fridays will continue to be ’off-peak’ until the New Year. The axeing of more expensive fares is seen as one way of attracting passengers back to rail, and Fridays on AWC

Stuck for what to buy the rail enthusiast in your life… or keen to indulge yourself this Yuletide? Fear not, as Britain’s leading railway publisher may just have the answer, with the launch of our ultimate Christmas catalogue. Mortons Media Group, publisher of five top railway magazines, including The Railway Magazine