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Posts Tagged ‘rail industry’

Is London’s transport system set to cope with the Olympics?

April 20th, 2011 by Simon Haddock

Can London’s transport systems cope with the vast increase in passenger numbers that it will experience in the summer of 2012? The London Assembly fears not. (more…)

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There’s money for rail, green energy and apprenticeships!

March 24th, 2011 by Simon Haddock

George Osborne’s budget brought some welcome news for the rail industry. The Chancellor announced that the government could now afford to invest an additional £200 million in the UK’s regional railways.

The £85 million Ordsall Chord scheme, which links the two Manchester mainline stations of Piccadilly and Victoria, will now go ahead. This will reduce considerably the journey times between Leeds and Liverpool. (more…)

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Ineffective communications letting down the rail industry

March 1st, 2011 by Barry Potier

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…)

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Will trains remain the greenest from of public transport?

February 22nd, 2011 by Barry Potier

The rail industry should aim to cut CO2 emissions in half by 2050, the chief executive of ATOC said at the ‘Sustainable Transport: ‘greening the transport sector’ conference in London last week.

The industry bills itself as the greenest form of public transport but in order to live up to this reputation a series of measures need to be implemented, Mr Roberts said. The railways are currently the largest single user of electricity in the UK taking up about 1% of the total demand. Roberts talked about making the industry more energy efficient and as an example highlighted the need to reduce the amount of electricity lost in transmission. (more…)

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Should train operators keep under-used stations open?

February 14th, 2011 by Barry Potier

London Waterloo was the busiest rail station in the year up to March 2010 with 86,397,666 users according to the latest station footfall tables from the Office of Rail Regulation. Although these figures are based on ticket sales, they try to estimate all people using entrances and exits rather than just people using trains. (more…)

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The British public are letting the train take the strain

February 11th, 2011 by Barry Potier

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…)

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How can we make railway engineering seem sexy?

February 9th, 2011 by Simon Haddock

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…)

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Skills academy for the Rail Industry announced

December 17th, 2010 by Simon Haddock

On 16th November 2010, The Government has confirmed that funding will be made available towards the establishment of the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering (NSARE). (more…)

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Government gives a welcome boost to the Rail Industry

December 17th, 2010 by Simon Haddock

Resourcing Solutions  would like to thank our guest blogger  Phillippa Eleptico of Carve Consulting http://www.carveconsulting.com.

The railway industry got a welcome boost at the end of last month with the announcement that the government plans to invest £8bn on new carriages, electrification of some lines, and the Thameslink programme. (more…)

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Shorter Trains Would Cut Carbon Emissions

May 29th, 2009 by Barry Potier

A rail industry report says that removing carriages outside rush hour would conserve energy and reinforce rail’s reputation as one of the greenest modes of transport. Network Rail and the (AOTLS)Association of Train Operating Companies argue they can help reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 by running shorter trains off-peak. (more…)

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