Richard Lawrance, our Chief Executive gives his view on the proposed High Speed Rail link.
There has been much debate recently about the proposed 140 mile high-speed rail line. Whilst there are many advocates of creating the new environmentally friendly transport, there are also many opponents. Many do not want to see the destruction of stretches of rural England that will be necessary to construct the new line. (more…)
Rail travellers often suffer during bad weather and last December’s cold snap was no exception. A study carried out by the Office of Rail Regulation found that both Network Rail and the train operators performed badly over the period.
The problem was made worse by train companies adopting different approaches to passenger information even though they were using the same lines. Operators also failed to coordinate emergency timetables, adding yet more confusion to passengers.
At stations, passengers faced a confusing array of information, from destination boards to tannoy announcements, which left them with no idea when, or even if, trains were running. The report claimed that wildly inaccurate information was being given in some instances because the latest train timetables were not fed into the information system which stations rely on. (more…)
The British public have resumed their love affair with rail travel if the latest figures from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) are to be believed.
Last year, passengers made a total of 1.32 billion journeys, covering around 33.5 billion miles, on the National Rail network. That’s an increase in journeys of 6.9% on the year before and 37% on 2000. (more…)
Luckily, the rail industry escaped the worst of the government cuts and projects such as Crossrail and electrification, which had seemed to be in jeopardy, will now go ahead. In fact it looks as if there’ll be plenty of projects to keep skilled rail workers busy for at least the next ten years. (more…)
Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary last week announced a £7.5 billion inter-city express train contract going to the Japanese manufacturer Hitachi rather than the Derby based manufacturer Bombardier. (more…)
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