Passenger shortage set to hammer Network Rail finances April 25, 2021 The UK’s railways are facing a drop in usage that could see up to 2m passengers fewer use trains every day as working patterns shift due to Covid-19. According to a worst-case estimate prepared for rail authorities, passenger numbers may be no higher than 60 per cent of pre-Covid levels for the next four years. [...]
Rail firms to launch flexible season tickets to lure commuters back to city centres April 16, 2021 Ministers and rail chiefs are finalising a new system of flexible season tickets designed to entice commuters back to city centres as the shift to hybrid working takes off. Cost concerns mean the discounts will be much less generous than for traditional season tickets, to spare the taxpayer from further expenses, the Telegraph has revealed. [...]
Two rail lines closed in 1960s to receive £800m investment boost January 23, 2021 Two railway lines closed to passengers more than 50 years ago will be brought back to life with almost £800m of funding from the government. East West Rail, which will eventually connect Oxford and Cambridge, has been granted £760m to reopen for the first time since 1968. Ministers have also pledged £34m to accelerate plans [...]
Train services cut by a quarter during national lockdown January 14, 2021 UK train services will be cut down to below three-quarters of normal levels amid a sharp decline in passenger numbers during the third national lockdown. Brits have been urged to check before they travel as some services will be cancelled and others will change times while tougher restrictions are in place. The fresh cuts mean [...]
Rail services to be axed under Government plans: reports December 28, 2020 Reports have emerged overnight suggesting as many as one in five train services could be axed to reduce financial pressure on the network. The Treasury has been propping up rail services throughout 2020 as lockdown restrictions cut passenger numbers. The Telegraph reports that officials want to bring rail capacity down by a fifth to reduce [...]
Coronavirus gives chance to move to ‘different type of railway’, Grant Shapps says June 24, 2020 Transport secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed that the government will use its emergency control of the UK’s railways to change the way the current franchise system operates. Speaking to the transport select committee this morning, Shapps said: “We were already going to be moving to a different type of railway and different types of contracts [...]
Network Rail investigated for ‘poor performance’ in Midlands and north west January 21, 2020 Network Rail is being investigated over poor performance on train lines in the northwest and the Midlands. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has put the company on a warning over the performance on Northern and TransPennine Express routes. Network Rail is publicly-owned, and operates the UK’s physical rail infrastructure, such as tracks, signalling [...]
‘Dirty business’: Rail firms will still be dumping raw sewage on the line next year November 3, 2019 Rail operators have been forced to backtrack on a promise to stop the “dirty business” of dumping excrement on tracks by the end of the year. Network Rail and a number of train companies have admitted the 2017 promise – to stop using carriages whose toilets flush sewage directly onto the track by the end [...]
DEBATE: Would the railways run better with a ‘fat controller’? July 18, 2019 Would the railways run better with an independent “fat controller” in charge, as recently proposed? Scott Corfe, research director at the Social Market Foundation, says YES. Commuters are right to be angry with the state of Britain’s railway network, with its unpalatable combination of high fares, delays, and trains so packed that one feels like [...]
Union ballots staff over ‘deeply damaging’ nationwide rail strike June 28, 2019 Train drivers are set to vote on the first nationwide rail strike in a generation as union bosses lashed out against the government over pension arrangements. Read more: Londoners brace for summer Tube strike The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will ballot thousands of members on whether to hold national industrial action over fears [...]