Railnews is now taking its usual break at the end of the year. We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy 2025, and we will be back on 2 January.The last 2024 edition of the Railnews podcast will be available from tomorrow (20 December), and the next print edition of Railnews (RN335) will be published on 16 January.For now, thank you for your company in 2024. We look forward to being with you again in the New Year.

Avanti West Coast train managers are to stage strikes from the end of December until May next year, after 83 per cent of those voting in an RMT referendum rejected the operator’s latest offer. Strikes which had previously been called for 22, 23 and 29 December had been suspended while the ballot was held. The dispute is over rest day working. The union, which had argued that the current arrangements are ‘unacceptable’, said Avanti’s latest offer had included better pay for working rest days and ‘more organised allocation’ of rest day shifts. Staff are now set to walk out on New Year’s Eve and on 2 January, and also on every Sunday from 12 January to 25 May. The RMT said ‘sustained’ action was now ‘the only way to focus management’s minds on reaching a negotiated settlement’. Avanti, which is owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia, responded that its latest offer had been ‘very reasonable’, and that it was disappointed that new walkouts had been called, because they would cause ‘significant disruption’ over an ‘extended period’. It added that it was continuing to work with the RMT to resolve the dispute, and that strike day timetables were being prepared.

The charity Campaign for Better Transport has welcomed the Government’s plans to devolve more responsibility for train services to the English regions. A new White Paper says: ‘Mayors will be given a statutory role in governing, managing, planning and developing the rail network. In addition to partnerships with Great British Railways, Mayors of Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities will have a clear right to request greater devolution of services, infrastructure and station control where it would support a more integrated network.’ Silviya Barrett from the CBT said: ‘This is a model that has worked well in London and Liverpool and enables local leaders to deliver the services that work for their communities. ‘We’re equally pleased that Great British Railways will facilitate the expansion of multi-modal, integrated ticketing across city regions. This needs to be a part of wider fares and ticketing reform to ensure passenger across the country benefit from simpler and better value fares. ‘We are pleased to see the move to multi-year funding settlements and the re-introduction of Local Transport Plans, which will provide much-needed certainty. To be successful in delivering sustainable transport networks that work for local areas, transport funding should be linked to levels of improvements required to create the modal shift needed to meet national carbon reduction objectives.’ The Railway Industry Association, which represents suppliers, has also welcomed the plans. RIA chief executive Darren Caplan said: ‘RIA’s Nations & Regions network already has close relationships with Combined Authorities around the country, and so we look forward to continuing to work closely with the Metro Mayors as they take on a new statutory role in governing, managing, planning and developing their local and regional rail networks.’

Rail passengers who have been charged a penalty fare or prosecuted for not having the correct ticket are being asked to tell the rail regulator what happened. The Office of Rail and Road is asking passengers to complete a short questionnaire as part of its investigation into how operators deal with suspected cases of fare evasion. Several incidents have been reported which appear to have been met with an excessive response. One young female passenger was penalised because she had accidentally chosen the wrong rail card to gain a discount when buying her ticket from a machine, even though she did have another rail card which would have provided the same reduction. The ORR said its investigation is due to end in the spring, when it is expecting to make any necessary recommendations to improve the situation. The questionnaire asks respondents to name the operator, give the reasons for the penalty, what happened next, and whether the case led to action in court. The questionnaire will be available until 17 January. The ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform Stephanie Tobyn said: ‘If you’ve been penalised for travelling without the right ticket, or with no ticket, then we want to hear from you. This will be an invaluable source of information about why this happens and the impact on those passengers. ‘It’s really important that train companies stop and deter deliberate fare evasion, but all passengers must be treated fairly and proportionately. Our report will look to make recommendations on any areas for change and improvement.’

Planned walkouts by around 300 RMT staff on Avanti West Coast which could have seriously disrupted services over the Christmas and New Year holiday have been suspended, after the employers made a new offer. The strikes by train managers, in a dispute over rest day working, were announced for 22, 23, and 29 December, and Avanti had been planning to publish revised timetables for the first two strike days tomorrow. The RMT says the new deal includes revised and enhanced rest day working payments, the creation of a rest day working allocation agreement and discussions over a new technology agreement. The affected staff will now decide whether the revised terms are acceptable, and the union is seeking their views by running a referendum which will close on 17 December. The RMT emphasised that although the strikes have been suspended while the referendum takes place, its dispute with Avanti West Coast has not yet been resolved. Avanti West Coast said: ‘We are pleased that the RMT have decided to suspend these strikes which would have caused major disruption to our services and this will come as a relief to our customers who were making travel plans over the Christmas period. We remain open to discussion with the RMT and await the outcome of the referendum where Train Managers can vote on this offer.’

The number of people employed in the administration of DfT Operator, which runs nationalised passenger operators, is set to rise from 25 to 100 by the end of the coming year. DfTO was known as the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort until last month. Alex Hynes, the director-general at DfT Rail Services Group, told MPs on the Commons Transport Committee that DfT Operator would be increasing in size to deal with the growing workload caused by the nationalisation of three more former franchises during 2025, following the passing of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act at the end of November, which means that renationalisation is no longer the last resort but the default option. Four DfT contracts have already been returned to public ownership since 2018, when the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise failed and was replaced by LNER. Since then the contracts for Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express have also been terminated, as well as Caledonian Sleeper, ScotRail and Transport for Wales, which are now run by the devolved governments. The next in line is South Western Railway in May 2025, followed by c2c in July and Greater Anglia in the autumn. The remaining seven contracts still in the private sector are expected to have ended by 2027. After that, the only private sector passenger operators will be those with open access licences, such as Grand Central and Hull Trains. New open access operations are due to start soon, and further applications are now being considered by the Office of Rail and Road.

Train managers on Avanti West Coast who belong to the RMT are set to strike on three days over the Christmas period in a dispute over rest day working, and services will be disrupted on those days. The union said the company’s proposals had been ‘inadequate’, and that staff had rejected them in a vote by 92.8 per cent, on a turnout of 81 per cent. The three strike days are 22, 23 and 29 December, and are expected to involve around 300 staff. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Avanti West Coast’s proposals have been decisively rejected by our Train Managers, sending a clear message to management that the current arrangements are unacceptable. ‘Train Managers are being treated unfairly compared to senior managers, who receive significant payments for covering these roles. Our members have had enough, and this strike action demonstrates their determination to win a fair deal. ‘It’s time for Avanti to put forward serious proposals that reflect the vital contribution of our Train Managers to the railway. We remain ready to reach a negotiated settlement and we urge management to show they are serious about resolving this dispute.’ Avanti West Coast said: ‘We are disappointed the RMT have voted to decline the very reasonable offer made to them to resolve the rest day working dispute and prevent inconvenience to those many people who will be travelling on the West Coast Main Line over this time. ‘We will continue to work with the RMT to resolve the dispute.’ A revised timetable for 22 and 23 December is due to be published on Saturday.

Network Rail will switch the large screen at London Euston back on tomorrow night. The screen had displayed advertisments but was left blank after protests about congestion and overcrowding which reached the transport secretary. It will now display travel information, and Network Rail said it was making the change in response to feedback from passengers who had called for a large ‘focal point’ on the concourse providing information about train services. Rail minister Lord Hendy will face the Commons Transport Committee tomorrow morning, when he is expected be questioned about railway renationalisation, HS2, the project to improve London Euston, Great British Railways and reforms to fares and ticketing, as well as other matters. The former Network Rail chairman was appointed rail minister after the General Election in July. National Rail timetables will change from Sunday. Among the changes, some Sunday trains on East Midlands Railway will be accelerated by as much as 28 minutes and there will be more trains on the EMR route between Crewe and Newark Castle. Northern will be running more electric Class 323 trains, four-car trains between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport will be lengthened to six cars, and services between Blackpool North and Liverpool Lime Street will use four-car Class 331 units. Southeastern will run an extra 44 weekday services, including more London Cannon Street ‘rounders’ on the Woolwich and Sidcup lines and 27 extra off-peak services between London Victoria and Orpington. Platform 4 at Cleethorpes has reopened following a £1 million refurbishment which is intended to ease congestion at the Lincolnshire station. The upgrade included repairs to the platform walls and the installation of drainage, lighting and track. A waiting shelter has also been added. A nationwide heritage hunt has been launched to discover the person with the longest-serving railway family. The search for the longest, continuous cross-generational railway family in Britain is part of the celebration of 200 years of the modern railway next year, which has been inspired by the launch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.  Railway 200 will celebrate railway people and also help with recruiting the next generation of staff. At the top of the railway family tree so far are father and son Mike and Andrew Lamport whose railway lineage dates back to 1846.

Some train services are still disrupted today after a weekend of wild weather which caused damage to railways in many places, as Storm Darragh swept across Britain. The Met Office issued a rare ‘red’ warning for South Wales and the Bristol Channel on Saturday, which meant the weather posed a threat to life. Many trains were cancelled or delayed as the strong winds brought down trees across the railway. These sometimes pulled down overhead lines, while heavy rain in some places flooded the track. Network Rail said its engineers had removed hundreds of fallen trees on the Wales & Borders route alone, while many objects, such as fencing panels, were also blown on to the track. Most Welsh routes were closed at the height of the storm on Saturday. Operators appealed to passengers to only attempt essential journeys over the weekend, and some warned against trying to travel at all. Where trains still ran, timetables were often reduced. Chiltern cut back its services to one train an hour, and all Great Western Railway trains were cancelled in Cornwall. There were also no trains on the lines to Barnstaple and Okehampton in Devon. A fallen tree at Outwood damaged the overhead wires between Leeds and Wakefield Westgate, while trees blocked the line between Wolverhampton and Stafford and also at Lowdham, disrupting East Midlands Railway services between Nottingham and Newark Castle. There were similar problems on some Greater Anglia routes, where more fallen trees were reported between Lakenheath and Shippea Hill, and on some lines around Ely. Trains were delayed by speed restrictions between Tamworth and Nuneaton because of a landslip. CrossCountry suspended its services from Birmingham New Street to Plymouth, Cardiff Central and Manchester Piccadilly. Also in Birmingham, West Midlands Railway cancelled all trains on the Cross City South line, and fallen trees blocked the line at various places between Birmingham New Street, Longbridge and Redditch. There were no trains from Birmingham to Chester or Shrewsbury, or from Bidston to Wrexham Central. Further north, high winds meant that speed restrictions were necessary between Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and all trains were cancelled between Middlesbrough and Whitby. In south east England trees blocked the lines between Frimley and Camberley, and between Guildford and Effingham Junction, while a ‘precarious tree’ was reported at Liphook. Westbury, Chippenham and Worcester Shrub Hill stations were closed because their roofs had been damaged by the wind. Network Rail says damage to overhead wires at Polesworth is still being repaired this morning, and some early trains between London and Scotland may be delayed or cancelled. There will be no trains today between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford, because engineers are working to remove a large fallen tree and repair the damage it caused, while trains are unlikely to be restored between Swansea and Carmarthen before midday. Routes in mid- and North Wales will also remain closed today, and trains will be cancelled between Bromsgrove, Redditch, Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley while overhead lines are repaired. In Devon and Cornwall, services are not expected to start between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple until about 09.45, between St Erth and St Ives until about 11.00, Liskeard and Looe until about 11.30, and between Plymouth and Gunnislake until about 13.00. Trains on the Par to Newquay line are still being replaced by buses because of unrelated engineering work. Network Rail's West Coast South route director Gary Walsh said: ‘This weekend, Storm Darragh wreaked havoc on the railway. We've got teams working up and down the West Coast Main Line removing debris that’s causing obstructions. ‘We apologise to passengers that there are no train services between Stafford and Stoke while complex repairs to our overhead line equipment are made on this critical part of the West Coast Main Line.’

Train services on many routes are being disrupted this morning because of a fault with the GSM-R system, which allows train drivers to talk to signallers on a radio link.Operators mainly affected according to National Rail are ScotRail, South Western Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway and Southeastern. Some trains are running late and others may be cancelled.Some services from Reading and London Heathrow on the Elizabeth Line are also being cancelled.National Rail says the fault is ‘currently being investigated’.