A bid to reduce fraudulent rail travel has been launched by the government, which is providing £33 million for more and better ticket gates at some stations currently run by six operators. It is estimated that travel cheats are costing the railway industry between £300 million and £400 million a year,

E-bikes which cannot be folded are to be banned by Merseyrail from the start of 2027. The operator says the ban is being imposed because of the risk of fire from lithium-iron batteries. Although it concedes that such fires are rare, it says they can break out without warning, and would

A major embankment fire in north east London disrupted London Overground services on the Weaver line last night. More than 120 firefighters and 20 fire tenders were called to the blaze near Wood Street in Walthamstow, which started at around 18.30. The track and some buildings near the embankment were damaged,

The Mayor of Liverpool has unveiled plans to renationalise Merseyrail. Mayor Steve Rotheram is presenting a report to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority next week, which recommends that the present concession held by Transport UK Group and Serco Group should not be renewed. Liverpool is working to follow the examples of

East Midlands Railway is warning its passengers to travel only if they must for the rest of this week, as high temperatures are expected to affect the railway. The UK Health and Security Agency has issued an amber heat-health alert in six regions of England from today until Sunday. People who need

Major disruption is expected on West Midlands Trains later this week, as the TSSA says it is going ahead with its strikes over rest day payments. The union said roster clerks will strike from 00.01 on Thursday until Friday at 00.01hrs, while duty train crew managers and control grades will not

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander says HS2 should be the match of Japan’s Shinkansen network, which started to be developed in the 1960s. At the time, Japanese railways were mainly built to a narrower gauge of 1067mm rather than the 1435mm of standard gauge, but the new high speed lines used standard

HS2 Ltd has lost a case in the Court of Appeal, which has ruled that it extended Bromford tunnel in Birmingham without planning permission. The tunnel’s portals would originally have been within Birmingham City Council’s area, but the extension of the tunnel, which leads to Washwood Heath depot, placed the eastern

MPs have cast doubt on the plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail, saying they echo the same failures seen in HS2. The Public Accounts Committee is also doubtful how the full programme can be completed within its price cap of £45 billion. The Committee says it is not confident that the Department

The National Audit Office has warned that the cost of the ‘reset’ of the remaining section of HS2 will be about £153 million. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander announced last month that the line between London and Birmingham will now cost up to £107 billion, after chief executive Mark Wild had