• Flying Scotswoman service celebrates Int’l Women’s Day (BelfastTelegraph) • New ‘rail to refuge’ free travel to women fleeing domestic abuse (RailBusinessDaily) • Network Rail’s new focus on architecture & design – Part 1 (BeautyOfTransport) …
Continue readingCategory: Network Rail
Don’t Bank on Crossrail
Throughout TfL’s recent trials and tribulations, there seemed to be one major project that remained on schedule. It was also largely on budget, but facing ‘cost pressures’. Unlike just about every other substantial TfL project, …
Continue readingA Study in Sussex (Part 14): The Beginnings of Big Changes
With consultation on the much-discussed improvements at East Croydon and Windmill Bridge opened on November 5th 2018, we look briefly at what is being put forward and take the opportunity to provide an update for …
Continue readingRailway station, shopping centre or both? (Railway-Technology)
Train stations: the new shopping Meccas? While airports have always been used to flog perfumes, sweets and luggage to a captive audience, train station operators have been much slower to make the most of on-site …
Continue readingThirty Centimetres of Safety: An Incident At Peckham Rye
In November 2017 a London Overground train came to a sudden halt just outside Peckham Rye station. It began a chain of events that would eventually lead to over eighty passengers standing at trackside while the electrical rail was still live.
Continue readingA Good Spark is Getting Hard to Find: SWR and the December Timetable
In early July 2018, South Western Railway (SWR) released a statement on their website. In it, the Operator reiterated their desire to run additional services – something they had included in their franchise submission for …
Continue readingHoly Grails and Thameslink Fails (part 2): The plan that went wrong
In looking at why the new May national rail timetable went so horribly wrong in the case of Thameslink and Great Northern services, it is necessary to look not only at the immediate causes but …
Continue readingThe Timetable Change: Accepting the Blame
In April 2018 the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a report on Rail Franchising in the UK. In particular, they were concerned with the DfT’s handling of its (relatively) new “mega-franchise”: GTR. Much …
Continue readingAnd it Moves Us All: East Coast To Be Renationalised
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba Sithi uhm ingonyama! From the day it arrived at St Pancras, And blinking, step into the sun. There’s more to East Coast, Than, new a brand and cheap seats. More to …
Continue readingSoutheastern Detraining: Investigation over Assumption
On 2 March 2018, during a period of rail disruption caused by extreme weather conditions, an incident occurred just outside Lewisham station in London. That incident saw a number of passengers de-train from a Southeastern …
Continue readingBack to the Future: (Re)lengthening and Shortening at Waterloo
With the current three week blockade at Waterloo to lengthen platforms 1-4 coming to a close, we take a look at works, and at how the detail doesn’t necessarily always match the headlines. The rebuild …
Continue readingThe Kent Route Study (Part 4): Victoria – Dartford, the Forgotten Southeast Service
For our final look at passenger suburban services considered in the draft Kent Route Study we look at a route which is, in many ways, a bit of an oddball – not least because it …
Continue readingHow Can You Mend A Broken Railway? Thameslink and the Gibb Report
Last summer the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, commissioned a report from an experienced and well-respected railwayman, Chris Gibb. The goal was a framework to enable much-needed improvements to railway services across the …
Continue readingGovernment backs down on Network Rail cash raid (Transport Network)
The Government has backtracked over a threat to put £1.8bn from a sale of Network Rail assets towards cutting the deficit. However, the infrastructure operator could still be forced to cut maintenance work and drop …
Continue readingKent Route Study (Part 3): Victoria Metro Services
As part of our series on the recent Kent Route Study, we look at what it refers to as the ‘Victoria Metro Services.’ It is nearly impossible to do so, however, without also looking at …
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