Eurotunnel has signed a memorandum of understanding with the owners of the concession to operate HS1, which has just been renamed London St Pancras Highspeed. The agreement, which is being described as a ‘landmark partnership’, is intended to increase the growth of cross-Channel traffic through the tunnel and also lead to the introduction of new routes and destinations. There is to be closer collaboration on innovation and engineering initiatives, which include exploring opportunities to run more services, shorten journey times and improve timetable coordination. The MoU follows the announcement of a new study by London St Pancras Highspeed which says current international passenger capacity in St. Pancras could go up by almost 5,000 an hour. London St Pancras Highspeed CEO Robert Sinclair said: ‘Joining forces with Eurotunnel is another exciting step on our journey to realise a future where high-speed rail is the preferred option for travelling to Europe.  ‘As we see demand for international rail travel grow, London St Pancras Highspeed and Eurotunnel have an important role to play as key infrastructure managers to actively work together to encourage new and existing train operators to expand capacity and launch new destinations unlocking the potential of a fully connected Europe.’ Yann Leriche, who is CEO of Eurotunnel’s owner Getlink, added: ‘As an open access infrastructure, Eurotunnel is the pioneer in enabling growth of high-speed rail between the UK and Continental Europe. We are keen to drive forward attractive opportunities for low-carbon mobility with a range of new destinations in Germany, Switzerland and France. This partnership with London St. Pancras Highspeed is an essential catalyst for accelerating this growth momentum.’ Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

The future ‘directing mind’ Great British Railways has been described in more detail than before as part of a consultation launched today by the Department for Transport. Key points include that ‘passengers will travel on GBR trains, running on GBR tracks, and arrive at GBR stations – all run by the expert leadership of a single organisation in line with a clear strategic direction set by the Secretary of State’. Some existing railway industry organisations will no longer be needed, or have new duties. GBR will decide track access charges for the remaining third-party operators, and it will be possible for them to appeal to the Office of Rail and Road. GBR will also work ‘in close partnership’ with the private sector, while the Department for Transport will ‘step back from day-to-day involvement in the railway’. The Office of Rail and Road will concentrate on safety and efficiency. The ORR will no longer approve access or direct the sale of access rights for the GBR railway and will not set standard access terms for GBR. Third party operators will  have ‘fair access’ to the network, and GBR will have a statutory duty to promote rail freight. Third party ticket retailing will continue, but the industry functions currently managed by the Rail Delivery Group, including retailing, will be taken over by GBR as part of its ‘simplified sector structure’.  There will be the promised ‘new voice for passengers’ in the shape of a new passenger watchdog which will able to hold both GBR and non-GBR operators to account. This body would moderate unresolved passenger complaints and resolve disputes, which at the moment is the responsibility of the Rail Ombudsman. The Ombudsman could cease to do this, or alternatively it could be sponsored by the new watchdog instead of the ORR. The DfT also says there is ‘potential for the new watchdog to be built from the existing passenger watchdog Transport Focus’. The proposed new funding process will ‘take the best of e current periodic review and control period system’, and core settlements will still last for five years. The ORR will continue to monitor business plans and the practicality of settlements. The system of train driver training will be modernised, with ‘outdated criteria’ being modernised ‘to reflect new innovations, technology and scientific developments’. The consultation runs until 23.59 on 15 April. Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

The future ‘directing mind’ Great British Railways has been described in more detail than before as part of a consultation launched today by the Department for Transport. Key points include that ‘passengers will travel on GBR trains, running on GBR tracks, and arrive at GBR stations – all run by the expert leadership of a single organisation in line with a clear strategic direction set by the Secretary of State’. Some existing railway industry organisations will no longer be needed, or have new duties. GBR will decide track access charges for the remaining third-party operators, and it will be possible for them to appeal to the Office of Rail and Road. GBR will also work ‘in close partnership’ with the private sector, while the Department for Transport will ‘step back from day-to-day involvement in the railway’. The Office of Rail and Road will concentrate on safety and efficiency. The ORR will no longer approve access or direct the sale of access rights for the GBR railway and will not set standard access terms for GBR. Third party operators will  have ‘fair access’ to the network, and GBR will have a statutory duty to promote rail freight. Third party ticket retailing will continue, but the industry functions currently managed by the Rail Delivery Group, including retailing, will be taken over by GBR as part of its ‘simplified sector structure’.  There will be the promised ‘new voice for passengers’ in the shape of a new passenger watchdog which will able to hold both GBR and non-GBR operators to account. This body would moderate unresolved passenger complaints and resolve disputes, which at the moment is the responsibility of the Rail Ombudsman. The Ombudsman could cease to do this, or alternatively it could be sponsored by the new watchdog instead of the ORR. The DfT also says there is ‘potential for the new watchdog to be built from the existing passenger watchdog Transport Focus’. The proposed new funding process will ‘take the best of e current periodic review and control period system’, and core settlements will still last for five years. The ORR will continue to monitor business plans and the practicality of settlements. The system of train driver training will be modernised, with ‘outdated criteria’ being modernised ‘to reflect new innovations, technology and scientific developments’. The consultation runs until 23.59 on 15 April. Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

The launch of a consultation into the shape of the future ‘directing mind’ Great British Railways is promised today by the Department for Transport. GBR will need a change in the law to take over from Network Rail and take charge of most passenger train services. Renationalisation of the last ten former franchises starts in May, when the South Western Railway contract will be terminated, and that will be followed by c2c in July and Greater Anglia this autumn. The others are set to end in 2026 and 2027. A brief law making public ownership of passenger operators the default rather than the last resort was passed in November, and this is being used to terminate the existing contracts until Great British Railways can take over from its future headquarters in Derby. The DfT says it will be unveiling plans today for the rail reform bill which will set up GBR. The reforms also include the creation of a ‘powerful passenger watchdog’. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: ‘Passengers have put up with broken railways for far too long. This landmark reform will sweep away decades of failure, creating a Great British Railways passengers can rely on. ‘We’re giving passengers a powerful voice with a new watchdog dedicated to addressing their biggest concerns, building railways people can trust, improving our services and boosting the economy in the process – the priority in our Plan for Change.’ Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

The Office of Rail and Road has published a letter it has sent to Network Rail, in which it warns that the condition of infrastructure like bridges and tunnels is not being monitored properly, to the point where Network Rail is now being told to take ‘specific actions’ to comply with health and safety law. The letter, from HM chief inspector of railways Richard Hines, is addressed to Network Rail’s group safety and engineering director Martin Frobisher. It is a follow-up to the ORR’s review of submissions made by Network Rail in November, and ‘confirms the regulatory action that we are taking as a result. In summary, we are not satisfied with the progress being made.’ The ORR first expressed concern about the monitoring of structures almost two years ago, in May 2023. Its letter continues: ‘In July 2024, we reported mixed progress at the end of CP6. While regions such as Eastern were on track with their recovery trajectories, others, such as North-West & Central and Southern, did not show significant improvement.’ Mr Hines says: ‘A lack of up-to-date structural assessments means that you lack essential information about your assets. This could affect your ability to make appropriate decisions about the management of your infrastructure. This could lead to unaddressed risks to train performance and public safety. Additionally, the failure to conduct risk assessments for all assets that are non-compliant with your own standards means that you cannot demonstrate that any resultant safety risks are being identified and managed.’ Although Network Rail had made proposals about recovering the backlog, Mr Hines continues: ‘ These proposals lack sufficient detail to give confidence that they will be delivered, and recovery periods are unacceptably long.’ A further letter is expected which will set out the actions that Network Rail must take in order to comply with health and safety law. Mr Hines concludes: ‘Failure to take these actions will likely result in enforcement action being taken without further recourse.’ The ORR said: ‘We are not satisfied that Network Rail is doing all that it should to meet its own standards of recording and monitoring all of its assets. That is why we have taken action, which Network Rail is taking seriously.’ Martin Frobisher responded: ‘We have a comprehensive plan in place for the delivery of our structures inspections and assessments. Progress has been made but there is still much more to do, and we are working closely with the ORR and our regional engineers to prioritise this activity and move forward with our plans.’ Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

Talks between the RMT and Avanti West Coast over the terms of rest day working have reached an ‘intensive’ stage, according to the union, which has called off walkouts by train managers which had been planned for the next three Sundays, but ASLEF has announced strikes by its members on the Elizabeth Line in London after 95 per cent voted in favour on a turnout of 88 per cent. In the West Coast dispute, the RMT said ‘following sustained industrial action, pressure from RMT members has brought Avanti management to the table for meaningful discussions on resolving the row’. The RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘This breakthrough has been achieved through the strength and determination of our members, whose industrial action has forced Avanti to engage seriously with this dispute. ‘As a result, strike action has been suspended to allow space for constructive talks. We are fully committed to using the next three weeks productively to secure a negotiated settlement in good faith.  ‘However, Avanti must demonstrate a real willingness to compromise if it wants to avoid an escalation of this dispute in the coming weeks and months.’ Avanti West Coast said: ‘We are pleased the RMT has suspended strike action for the next three weekends. We remain open to working with the RMT to resolve this dispute and will continue to work together to find a resolution. ‘This means that tickets will be back on sale for the dates concerned and we will be able to operate our normal Sunday timetable.’ Meanwhile, the drivers’ union ASLEF has announced strikes by its Elizabeth Line members on 27 February, followed by 1, 8 and 10 March. They are employed by the operator MTR, which is being replaced by Transport for London with a consortium of Go Ahead Group, Tokyo Metro and Sumitomo Corporation in May. ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘Our members have been instrumental in the success of the Elizabeth Line – it’s a partnership, in practice, between the company and its employees – but, despite our best efforts, MTR has decided not to recognise the input, the importance, and the value of train drivers in this success. ‘I suspect that the company’s intransigence is because it has lost the contract with TfL to run the Elizabeth Line; if that is indeed the case, it is very disappointing to see the company behave this way.’ Nigel Gibson, one of ASLEF’s full-time district organisers, and the lead officer with MTR, said: ‘Taking action is always a last resort, because we do not want to inconvenience passengers and our members do not want to lose money, and I hope that the company, seeing the strength of feeling amongst our members, their drivers, will do the right thing and return to the negotiating table.’ Transport for London said: ‘We encourage Aslef and MTR Elizabeth line to continue working towards resolving this dispute.’ Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

The owners of the HS1 concession have unveiled a new name for their enterprise. From now on, the HS1 concession will be branded London St. Pancras Highspeed. The concession to operate the high speed line between London and the Channel Tunnel was awarded in November 2010 and lasts for 30 years. The complete line had opened three years earlier, when Eurostar moved from London Waterloo to St Pancras International, but the name HS1 had been coined by Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown in November 2006, when he told an audience at St Pancras that the original title of Channel Tunnel Rail Link was being retired. The concession was sold in 2010 by the government for £2.1 billion to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.  They sold it on in turn for £3 billion to HICL Infrastructure (35 per cent), Equitix (35 per cent) and South Korea's National Pension Service (30 per cent), in 2017. The concession includes the four stations at St Pancras, Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International, although a controversy has flared about the lack of Eurostar services at Ebbsfleet and Ashford since the Covid pandemic. In spite of its name, no cross-channel trains have ever called at Stratford International, which is served only by domestic Southeastern high speed trains and the Docklands Light Railway. London St. Pancras Highspeed CEO Robert Sinclair said: ‘This is not simply a change of brand or a new logo. Instead, it signifies an important shift and a desire to play a much more active and supportive role in driving the growth of sustainable travel by high-speed rail. ‘Who we are and what we do as a business has not changed, but our ambition has. It’s evident that a modal shift is taking place for travel and our new brand reflects this. ‘We believe that growth on our line will have a significant benefit for the UK, opening up more business and tourism opportunities, while bringing Europe closer with fast, city centre to city centre journeys. ‘We have an incredible opportunity and an important responsibility to help maximise the take-up of sustainable rail travel. Together with our partners in the industry, all of us at London St. Pancras Highspeed are excited about the journey ahead.’ Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

The RMT has criticised closures of Southeastern ticket offices, which it says were closed for about 70,000 hours or 2900 days more than they should have been between June last year and last month. The union obtained its figures from the state-owned operator through a Freedom of Information request. At five stations, ticket offices were open for only 1 per cent or fewer of their advertised hours, and 17 offices were closed for at least 50 per cent of their advertised hours. The RMT is claiming that the closures are ‘part of a deliberate attempt to reduce reliance on ticket offices, despite the unprecedented opposition to proposed closures during a 2023 consultation’. Proposals to close virtually all National Rail ticket offices attracted 750,000 responses which were nearly all opposed to the plan, and the government abandoned the closure programme at the end of October 2023. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Our findings show a shocking picture of Southeastern’s failure to open ticket offices as advertised which is a clear breach of their obligations. ‘Passengers, particularly those who are elderly, disabled, or less able to navigate unstaffed stations, are being left without the support they need and will potentially be put off from using the railway altogether. ’Rail operators once again are trying to undermine essential services and erode public trust in our railways. ’The government must step in now to protect ticket offices and ensure Southeastern is held to account.’ The Southeastern contract had been owned by Govia, but it was renationalised in October 2021 after financial irregularities were revealed. Railnews has invited Southeastern to comment.   Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.    

Plans to reopen the railway to Portishead near Bristol are going ahead. The scheme had been included in the Restoring Your Railway programme, but this was scrapped by the government in July 2024 on economic grounds. West of England Combined Authority Mayor Dan Norris held new talks wtih rail minister Lord Hendy before the weekend, and the minister has now confirmed that the scheme has been revived.  It is hoped that construction can begin this summer, and passengers could be travelling on the line again by the end of 2027. The service was recommended for withdrawal in the 1963 Beeching report, and the last passenger trains ran to Portishead in September 1964, although the line continued to be used for freight until 1981. A spur to Royal Portbury Dock was built for freight in 2002, while the abandoned line to Portishead town still exists, although it has been blocked by at least one new road. The council said bringing back the Portishead trains will mean that the travelling time into Bristol when compared with road will be cut by half. It has also estimated that car commuting will be reduced by 5.5 per cent, and that the line will help to achieve an estimated £43 million in economic growth each year. Mayor Dan Norris said: ‘This is a massive moment for the West of England: one that generations have eagerly waited to see. This is great news for residents, businesses, and our environment, and a truly red-letter day for our fantastic region. The Bristol and Portishead line was a victim of historic rail cuts, but today, with a Labour government and a Labour mayor, we’re delivering the latest stage of my “reverse Beeching” plan. I’m delighted to confirm that this project is now finally steaming ahead.’ A further £30 million is needed, and this is set to be confirmed next month by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Committee. This includes a contribution from North Somerset Council. What do you think? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.

Transport groups have a long history, and they are still playing a major part in the industry at the moment. Whether they will still be doing so in Britain in a few years from now is another matter. At present, to take just two examples, FirstGroup runs Great Western Railway and the open access operators Hull Trains and Lumo. It also has majority stakes in Avanti West Coast and South Western Railway. Transport UK has East Midlands Railway and the majority of Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and West Midlands Railway. Both these groups also run buses. FirstGroup’s last accounts show that its revenues come from trains and buses – in that order. In the year to 30 March 2024 rail revenue was £3,738 million while buses turned over £1,012 million. Adjusted profits from rail were £143 million, and from buses they were £84 million. Open access train services – Hull Trains and Lumo – made a significant contribution, because they accounted for just over a quarter of the rail profits. Between them, open access rail and First’s buses made a profit of £121 million, while train operators with DfT contracts made a profit of £106 million. In other words, without the DfT rail contracts First’s profits would have been almost halved last year. And yet First will soon have to manage without those contracts, because the government intends to renationalise the remaining former franchises within the next couple of years, so transport groups like First have been concentrating – hard – on open access, particularly since the election and the Labour landslide. No wonder, then, that the Group’s chief executive Graham Sutherland said in December: ‘Growing our open access rail portfolio is a key priority for FirstGroup.’ He is not the only one. Apart from First’s ambitions to extend Lumo to Glasgow and also provide new services to Paignton and Rochdale, there are also outstanding applications for more open access routes from Virgin and, rather remarkably, Alstom, which is better known for building trains than operating them. It is almost a year since Alstom unveiled its vision for new open access train services between London and Wrexham, echoing the old Wrexham & Shropshire operation owned by Arriva which ceased trading in January 2011. Alstom, which is working in partnership with SLC Rail, sees its Wrexham services using part of the West Coast Main Line and arriving at London Euston rather than Marylebone, five times a day. Virgin, meanwhile, is proposing as many as five open access routes, also starting from its old home at London Euston, to places such as Manchester, Rochdale (or Preston), Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow. If Virgin and Alstom both gained approval for their separate schemes, they would need something like 80 paths a day between them on the West Coast Main Line between London and Rugby. This could mean a veritable capacity crunch, and the possibility seems to be worrying transport secretary Heidi Alexander, who wrote to the Office of Rail and Road on 6 January this year voicing some reservations about the sudden boom in open access applications. She is concerned about the lower track access charges paid by open access operators (bearing in mind that the infrastructure is funded by taxpayers) and also the capacity of the network. That was in early January. Since then, FirstGroup has hosted an event at which it highlighted the merits of open access, but it has just emerged that the Department for Transport wrote to the Office of Rail and Road a week ago, setting out its updated views of more open access. Basically, the verdict from Horseferry Road is thumbs down. Applications are mostly not being supported, mainly on the familiar grounds of lack of capacity and revenue abstraction. In some cases (Virgin’s, in particular) applications seek to use unoccupied paths which currently belong to contracted operators. Such operators are set to be steadily renationalised, starting with South Western Railway in May, so Virgin is not really up against the First/Trenitalia operator Avanti West Coast, but the future state railway manager Great British Railways, and the DfT is having none of it, saying: ‘We do not believe that the quantum of paths sought is feasible or realistic and note that the WCML already operates at close to capacity, particularly into/out of London Euston.’ It goes on to add: ‘This application is also at odds with work already underway as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade and Manchester-focused projects included as part of the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline. The business cases for these projects, which have been agreed to and announced by Ministers, are predicated on the efficient delivery of financial and passenger benefits by DfT-procured services.’ ‘DfT-procured services’ will, of course, soon be Great British Railways services. Only one of the current open access applications has managed to survive the bleak stare of the DfT, which says it is ‘supportive in principle of WSMR’s proposals to operate new Open Access services between Wrexham General and London Euston, subject to further assessment by Network Rail of performance impacts.’ As for the rest, we don’t think so. The ORR makes the final decision, but the DfT’s views surely cannot be disregarded. The result is that transport groups may look increasingly overseas, and particularly to mainland Europe, where some of them are already running local train and bus routes. First Rail’s Steve Montgomery hinted that First could be poised to cross the Channel at FirstGroup’s open access presentation. National Express went abroad after selling the c2c franchise in 2017, and it now runs a number of train services on the continent. Will Virgin run from Euston again? The odds against it seem to be all but overwhelming now. (A full, illustrated version of this essay forms the feature in the February print edition of Railnews, published Thursday.) Would you like to add a comment? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews. Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition RN336, published 13 February.