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Rail Announcement Announcing all the news from the rail industry
First class 800 arrives in UK March 2015
Virgin on the East Coast
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March has been an exciting and positive time for the rail industry, with the
launch of the new East Coast franchise, electrification of the Manchester to Liverpool route, the arrival of the first Hitachi class 800 in the UK and the budget offering investment, to name but a few developments over the month. All these things will help continue to revolutionise the UK’s rail network and , as can be seen in a recent ORR report, attract ever increasing passengers to travel by train. Although there is no halting of progress it’s always sad to see age old railway traditions disappear such as manual signal boxes razed to the ground as their function is taken over by ROCs. This August will see the closure of the last remaining Stafford signal boxes which, with 255 levers between them, have signalled the station area for over half a century. Next month will the first anniversary of Rail Announcement and in 12 months the number of readers have soared with readers from Southampton to South Korea! Thanks for taking the time to email me with your comments and the next 12 months will be just as exciting.
Jonathan Webb Editor editor@railannouncement.com
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First class 800 arrives in the UK
The first Hitachi pre-series class 800 InterCity Express Programme train has arrived in the UK after leaving Hitachi’s Kasado works on January 7 from where the five-car electro-diesel unit made its way to Kobe by barge before transferring onto the Tamerlane and commencing the journey to the UK,via the Panama Canal, on January 23. Unloaded from the Tamerlane roll-on roll-off vessel at Southampton docks on March 12, having arrived the previous afternoon, the first two vehicles from 800-001were watched by Japanese Ambassador to the UK Keiichi Hayashi as they made their way slowly off the ship and onto the dockside.
This first train is viewed by Hitachi as a ‘technology transfer vehicle’ with over 3,000 man hours being spent by staff from the Newton Aycliffe factory working alongside staff constructing the train at Kasado works. Armed with their train construction knowledge these staff will train other staff at the soon to be completed £82 million Newton Aycliffe works on how to construct the new rolling stock. The two fleets will total 122 trains, equating to 866 vehicles and will be a mixture of bimodal (class 800s ) and electric powered (class 801) units. The order, from the Hitachi-led consortium Agility Trains,when maintenance is taken into account, is worth
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maintenance is taken into account, is worth £5.7 billion. The IEP trains will initially replace InterCity HSTs on the Great Western Main Line, the first sets entering passenger service in 2017, before replacing HSTs and class 91s on the East Coast Main Line in the following year. The first train is now at the Old Dalby test track, where from next month it will be used to train onboard staff. Once tests are complete at Old Dalby the train will undergo mainline running along the East Coast Main Line in a ‘wheels free zone’ . All the trains will be in service by 2020. New depots are being built at Bristol and Doncaster to maintain the trains, which have a contractual life of 27 years. A total of 12 trainsets are to be built in Japan, including two five-car and one nine-car pre-series trainsets, before assembly switches to the UK’s Newton Aycliffe works in 2016.
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Japan and England have a long history in cooperating on railway design, indeed the first locomotive to enter service in Japan was British built, which dates back to 1863 when five young samurai surreptitiously, because it was illegal for Japanese nationals to leave the country, left Yamaguch prefecture, then known as Chosu, and made their way to the UK in order to learn about the latest technology so that they may use it to modernise Japan. After a four month voyage the five men arrived in the UK at started studying at University College London. One member of the group, Masaru lnoue, was so enthralled by the UK’s rail system , especially London’s underground network, that upon his return to Japan he oversaw the construction of the country’s first railway, in the process becoming known as the father of Japan’s railways. It is more than fitting that the first class 800 train should arrive at Southampton, for this is the very same dock that the Chosu five arrived at 152 years ago. In a further twist of fate the first class 800 was manufactured in Yamaguchi prefecture.
Hitachi is building three pre-series trainsets at Kasado before volume production begins. 800-001 is a five-car electro-diesel unit where the three intermediate vehicles are fitted with Not only is Japanese Ambassador to the UK MTU underfloor powerpacks complying with Keiichi Hayash from Yamaguchi, but his Euro IIIB emissions standards. father worked for a rolling stock company formed by Masaru lnoue, and this allowed
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Left: Japanese Ambassador to the UK Keiichi Hayash
him to visit the factory during his childhood to see his father at work which resulted in him: “feeling proud that my father was involved in producing trains.�
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Plans for the IEP stretch back to 2005, when the Department for Transport first put forward a proposal for a HST replacement. The DfT put forward a proposal that would see one class of train produced in three variants : diesel powered, a variant powered by overhead wires and a bi-mode which could be powered by both. A formal tender was issued in 2007 but the plans suffered from delays due to the project to electrify the Great Western Main Line calling the proposed mix of trains into question. The result was the dropping of the diesel version and a new option considered of attaching a diesel locomotive to an all electric variant where there was no OLE. This proposal was also later dropped. The first order for the new trains (a total of 57 trains, 369 cars, for the Great Western. 21 trains would be 9-car all-electric ones and 36 trains would be 5-car bi-modes) was placed in July 2012 with a second order for an additional 65 trains (10 five-car and 13 nine-car
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bi-modes and 12 five-car and 30 nine-car all-electric units) being placed in July 2013. The second train to arrive in the UK should be a nine-car bi-mode version for the East Coast Main Line, followed by another Great Western five-car bi-mode set. Once UK production commences next year complete aluminium bodyshells, manufactured out of 300mm wide by 26 metre long double skinned rectangular slabs using a friction stir welding process, will be transported to Newton Aycliffe.
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East Coast returns to private sector
Operation of rail services on the East Coast Coast Main Line have been transferred back to the private sector following the take over by Virgin Trains East Coast from state-owned Directly Operated Railways on 1 March. Virgin Trains East Coast is the brand name of InterCity Railways Ltd and is owned by Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin (10%) with the franchise contract due to run until March 2023. VTEC has committed to pay the government £2.3bn in real term premiums between 2015 and 2023. There will be £21 million invested in the current fleets, prior to the first of 65 Hitachi class 800s entering service in 2018. This investment will include not only reliability improvements but refurbished toilets, new carpets and better signage. Passengers will also benefit from a 10% reduction in the cost of anytime fares for passengers making long distance journeys to and from London from May this year. An additional £25 million will be invested in stations and car parks and there are no plans to close booking offices or to shorten their opening hours. Services will also be introduced to Sunderland and Stirling from December 2015 and from 2019 VTEC trains will serve Middlesbrough and a two-hourly service between Harrogate, Huddersfield and Bradford and London. John Doughty, a member of VTEC traction
team, told Rail Announcement that it was the intention to hand back the current fleet in as good as condition as possible and the work was being carried out, even though the fleets will only be in service for a relatively short period, to “maintain the customer experience.” He also confirmed that the double pantograph experiment, as fitted to 91114, will not be continued. The main reason being that it offers no real advantage because :” When one pantograph has been involved in a significant incident it tends to take both out, which defeats the object.” Instead a new type of pantograph has been developed which is less prone to damage. The money saved from not going ahead with the double pantograph project will be used to modify static converters , which will allow a passenger train to remain in service by maintaining the central power supply, avoiding the need to detrain passengers once battery power expires, usually after around two hours. During the launch at London King’s Cross rail minister Claire Perry was challenged head on to justify the decision to return the route to the public sector and gave a robust defence by replying that the £140 million investment pledged by the new operator would not have been possible from public resources. By August the whole fleet should carry the new VTEC livery, with the first HST in the new colours due out in May. This is because
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the design for the HST power cars is still being worked on, as a result of the body side radiator grills, something that class 91s do not have.
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Hitachi to supply 70 new trains for Scotland
Mock ups of AT100 and AT200 displayed in London during July 2014.
Following the news last October that it had been selected as preferred bidder,Hitachi has signed a contract with Abellio to supply 70 new electric trains for use on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street line. The new trains will also operate to Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa when electrification of those routes has been completed.
capable of reaching 160 km/h. Fitted with cab-end gangways for multiple operation, the trains will have aluminum body shells manufactured at the company’s Kasado plant in Japan using friction stir welding. In October Hitachi suggested that this technology could be imported to Newton Aycliffe if it was to receive another two or three orders.
The AT200 units, mock ups of which were displayed to the press in London last July, will be supplied as 46 three-car and 24 four-car sets, with the first seven units being constructed in Hitachi’s Kasado works in Japan and the remaining 63 being assembled at the soon to open Newton Aycliffe works in County Durham.
The first 24 AT200s will arrive in Scotland by December 2017, with the remaining 46 arriving by December 2018. Included in the contract is a 10 year maintenance deal.
This is the first order for Hitachi’s new AT200 EMU and the 23 m long vehicles will be
An unusual aspect of the leasing agreement is that after 25 years the Scottish Government will be able to buy the fleets, which have a 35 year design life, for just £1.
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First Group applies for open access rights
Just weeks after Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating the new East Coast Main Line franchise, FirstGroup has announced that it has applied to the Office of Rail Regulation for track access rights from 2018 allowing it to run passenger services between London King’s Cross, Stevenage, Newcastle, Morpeth and Edinburgh as an open access operator. FirstGroup says that its proposal to run five return trains a day, with journey rimes of around 4 hours, is deigned to encourage modal change from air to rail, with the company claiming that two thirds of journeys between London and Edinburgh are currently made by air and because its plans ‘specifically targets segments of the market where the rail industry’s share of the market is currently less than 50%, our proposals are not primarily abstractive and will grow the overall rail market’. Although publicly FirstGroup say that their target is domestic flights, with Stevenage being promoted as being close to Luton and Stansted airports and Morpeth close to Newcastle airport, this will be of little comfort to Virgin Trains East Coast who will face competition along the route. FirstGroup’s track access application has been submitted by East Coast Trains Ltd, a new train operator which would operate under a new brand and would be a wholly-owned
subsidiary of First Rail Holdings Ltd, which currently holds three passenger rail franchises and open access operator Hull Trains. Services would be operated by brand new five-car electric units with performance characteristics similar to the new Hitachi built class 800 and 801s ,that have started to be delivered this month, and fares will be :” highly competitive with budget air carriers.” FirstGroup’s proposals will now be considered by the ORR, with the aid of an industry consultation, and a decision is expected within 12 months.
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Report highlights urgent need for more new trains as passenger numbers soar
A passenger growth rate of 6.7% in the three months from November, equating to 429.8 million journeys in that quarter, has been recorded by the Office of Rail Regulation. According to the ORR this is the highest recorded figure in modern times, even accounting for the use of the Lennon ticketing database, from which the figures have been sourced, that counts individual legs of journeys and thus has the potential to inflate figures when compared against historical data. If this rise was repeated over the four quarters the result would be passenger growth higher than 1945, the landmark ‘demobilisation’ year.
3,800 new electric vehicles to be built during Control Period 5 (up to 2019) and the early years of CP6, the short-term need for non-electric stock remains because of the current levels of crowding and continuing passenger growth on a number of non-electrified routes. The study predicts that by 2044 the current fleet of 3,909 diesel vehicles will have shrunk to 1,234 with 95% of the fleet of 25,084 vehicles being electric or dual mode. By the end of Control Period 8 in 2034 the report suggests that between 62% and 77% of track miles in the UK will be electrified. In the medium case scenario, total rolling stock related savings could be £438m per year with 71% of track miles electrified.
The figures also indicated that some services are becoming more crowded, with the total of passenger kilometres rising by 6.5% against a Commenting on the rise in passenger numrise of just 0.5% of timetabled train kilomebers between November and January the tres. ORR stated: “This is the highest number of journeys recorded in a quarter since data colThe announcement coincides with the relection began in 2002-03, and a 6.7 per cent cent publication of a review of the industry’s increase on the same quarter last year.” long-term rolling stock strategy which states, because of increasing passenger numbers and delays in planned electrification projects, that there is a short-term need for between 350 and 500 non-electric vehicles and up to 19,000 new electric vehicles over the next 30 years. According to the strategy , despite around
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Freight is worth £1.6 billion to UK economy
A report by the Rail Delivery Group states that rail freight now contributes an estimated £1.6 billion worth of benefits to Britain’s economy every year.
and government. That in turn has allowed the sector to be more competitive, particularly with road transport, and savings to be passed down to the freight customer. The resulting productivity benefits for UK plc are valued at over £1.1 billion per year, helping to underpin economic growth.”
Research carried out in 2013 estimated that freight delivers productivity gains for British businesses and congestion and environmental benefits totalling over £1.5 billion per year, a By 2023 it is expected that the economic benfigure that has since increased. efits will be near £2 billion. According to the report the five main freight operators (Freightliner, DB Schenker, Colas, GB Railfreight and Direct Rail Services) move goods worth over £30 billion each year including cars for export, groceries and half of the fuel used to generate electricity. Since 2006 container traffic has seen an increase of 30%, with one in four containers entering Britain moving between pot and inland destination by rail. The report also notes that since 2003 cargo tonnage carried on each train has risen by an average of 80%. Much of this increase is as a result of longer or new freight loops being constructed, coupled with the building of new chords, such as at Nuneaton, which has opened up alternative routes for freight services. The RDG said : “The growth in volumes has been possible through significant investments made by freight operators as well as ports, terminals and other customers, Network Rail
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Task Force sets out electrification priorities
A report has been published by the Northern Electrification Task Force marking out which rail routes it thinks should next receive priority for electrification following current government spending commitments. The routes, following consideration of the impact that electrification would have on the wider economy, have been divided into three tiers of priority, with tier 1 being the most urgent. Tier 1 Calder Valley - Leeds to Manchester and Preston via Bradford and Brighouse Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central Southport/Kirkby to Salford Crescent Chester to Stockport Northallerton to Middlesbrough
Leeds to York via Harrogate Selby to Hull Sheffield (Meadowhall) to Leeds via Barnsley/ Castleford & connections Bolton to Clitheroe Sheffield to Doncaster/Wakefield Westgate (Dearne Valley) Hazel Grove to Buxton Warrington to Chester Tier 2 Manchester to Sheffield and south east Manchester local services York to Scarborough Bishop Auckland/Darlington to Saltburn and Sunderland Barnsley to Huddersfield Sheffield to Lincoln via Retford Chester to Crewe Burnley to Colne & Kirkham to Blackpool
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South Knottingley to Goole Tier 3 Barrow to Carnforth Pontefract to Church Fenton Hull to Scarborough Ormskirk to Preston Carlisle to Newcastle Skipton to Carlisle Barton on Humber Cumbrian Coast Doncaster to Gilberdyke Cleethorpes to Thorne (Doncaster) Middlesbrough to Whitby Skipton to Heysham
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According to the task force all the named routes need electrifying and that once tier 1 has been completed this will create a core foundation for tiers 2 and 3. Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “I am grateful to the members of the task force for their work. I want to see a rolling plan for further electrification and this study will have a vital part to play in setting the agenda for 2019 and beyond. Network Rail will take the task force’s findings into account as it develops its nationwide plan to improve the nation’s railways.” The recommendations of the task force will be considered by the government in helping it form a comprehensive transport strategy for the north of England, with the interim report due to be published in the near future.
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Electric services commence between Manchester and Liverpool
Thursday 5 March saw the first electric passenger train run between Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street following completion of the electrification scheme between Liverpool to Newton-le-Willows, connecting up with the previous electrified section to Manchester.
trification scheme, originally scheduled for December last year, after the wiring train developed a fault.
From May 17 it is envisaged that electric services will commence from Liverpool to Wigan and to Manchester Victoria. Northern says that by this date it will have 12 class 319s Cascaded class 319s from Thameslink , which available for passenger services, with ten in have been refurbished and put into Northern use every day. livery, operate services over the route, with 20 sets to be introduced over the coming Alex Hynes, managing director for Northern months. Electric services had been planned said: “What an exciting time for our customto commence three days earlier but the Office ers in the north west! Being able to deliver of Rail Regulation didn’t sign off the necesthese electric services to them is the culminasary paperwork after it is believed inspectors tion of years of planning and will bring more raised concerns regarding certain aspects of seats, more space and improved journeys for the overhead line equipment. This followed our customers.� a three month delay in completing the elec-
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Draft Welsh Route Study published
Network Rail has published a list of proposals Coast Main Line. for investment in Wales during Control Peri- - Development of a new interchange station od 6, running between 2019 and 2024. at Shotton. - Further network capacity enhancements The draft version of the Welsh Route Study, between Wrexham and Chester. put out for consultation, lays out a range of - Improved line speeds between Wrexham currently unfunded options for government and Bidston for connections to Liverpool. and other stakeholders to consider. Consideration is also being given to planOne of the proposals would see Cardiff Cen- ning up to 2043, which will be based on the tral, which is expected to see passenger jour- choices set out in CP6. The study also assessneys increase from 13 million to 33 million es what impact new technology, such as the by 2043, undergo a major upgrade. European Rail Traffic Management System, will have on increasing capacity. Other options being looked at by the study include: Consultation on the draft document runs until 9 June, with the final document expect- Modernisation of the North Wales Coast ed to be published during the summer. Main Line between Crewe and Holyhead. - The provision of additional passenger capacity on Cardiff Valley line services during peak periods and associated platform lengthening. - A phased programme of further network enhancements on Cardiff Valley lines and further development of Cardiff Capital City Metro proposals for rail. - A line speed upgrade on relief lines between Severn Tunnel Junction and Cardiff. - A programme of level crossing closures in west Wales. - Train lengthening on selected Marches Line services between Cardiff and Manchester. - Higher line speeds on the North Wales
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DBS Class 67s to remain on sleeper
Following a delay in overhauling the GBRf class 73s, DB Schenker will continue to provide four class 67s to haul the Caledonian sleeper service between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Fort William and Inverness. Serco, who commence running the franchise from 1 April, had initially planned to use class 47s hired from Harry Needle Railroad Company before DBS agreed to supply the class 67s as an interim measure. The class 73s, which are being overhauled at Wabtec’s Loughborough works, are expected to enter service on the CS in October.
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Princess Royal to visit Severn Valley Railway
The Princess Royal will visit the Severn Valley depot. Railway on 13 April as part of the heritage line’s 50th anniversary celebrations. This is not the first time the SVR has been visited by Royalty, with one of the most high Princess Anne will meet railway volunteers at profile visits being by Prince Charles , when Bewdley station before being invited up onto the steam hauled Royal train travelled over the footplate for the short journey to Kidder- the line in 2008 to celebrate the reopening of minster station where she will be asked to un- the line after it had been forced to close by veil a plaque celebrating 50 years of the SVR the severe floods of 2007. and to sign the anniversary Visitors Book. During her visit the Princess will be given a tour of Kidderminster carriage works and be able to view the progress being made on constructing the new Kidderminster diesel
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Repair bill doubles for ageing Bakerloo fleet
Although New Tube for London programme allocated money to keep the ageing Bakerloo line trains in service for another decade, Transport for London will have to more than double the funding available after discovering that the trains are in worse condition than had been expected. It’s estimated that it will cost £68.7 million to repair the trains in order to meet he required safety standards. In a report to TfL’s Finance and Policy Committee it was noted that all 36 trains in the 72TS fleet , that date from 1980, are beginning to suffer from age related failures that are impacting on the rolling stock’s structural integrity. Although the fleet has a nominal life of 40
Despite the fleet having a nominal life of 40 years, it was decided to defer their replacement until the late 2020s in order to secure financial backing from the government to introduce new trains on the Piccadilly line, as part of the New Tube for London programme, in the early 2020s. Problems identified with the Bakerloo stock include corrosion of saloon floors and kick plates , corrosion to carriage corners, cracks in swan-neck joints and cracks in door pillars. The repairs will be carried out in-house by TfL and include welding on replacement panels.
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Funding secured for Y Gerallt Gymro
The Welsh north-south business train, commonly known as Y Gerallt Gymro, will continue to run for another three years, until the end of the current Wales and Border franchise in October 2018. Wales Transport Minister Edwina Hart said: “I am committed to improving journey times and transport links between north and south Wales to promote economic growth. The express train service has proved popular with business travelers and this new contract will ensure it continues until the end of the current franchise. We are continually working to improve this service, including introducing a new business class and investing in rail infrastructure to further reduce the journey time.�
Funded by the Welsh government the locomotive hauled service, which runs between Holyhead and Cardiff on Monday to Friday, offers business class and dining options not available on other services run by the train operator.
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GNGE upgrade completed but Network Rail set to miss asset renewal targets Rail minister Claire Perry has officially opened the £280 million upgrade of the Great Northern Great Eastern route. The project funded by the government has seen the 86 mile route that connects Peterborough with Lincoln and Doncaster enhanced by increasing capacity on this busy freight route and reducing the pressure on the neighbouring East Coast Main Line. The removal of slow moving freight of the East Coast route allows reliability and punctuality of inter-city passenger services to be improved and provides potential for additional passenger services in the future. It is now possible for up to two freight services an hour to be diverted from the East Coast Main Line. Celebrations have been tempered by the announcement that Network Rail is expected to miss all its targets for key asset renewals by the end of the 2014/15 accounting period. In its second quarterly report of Control Period 5 (2014-19)Network Rail said forecasts indicate that it will not meet any of its seven key asset renewal volume targets, with the infrastructure company expecting to deliver eight of 10 key investment project milestones for capacity enhancing schemes by the end of 2014-15. It is anticipated that of the two remaining that one, in connection with the electrification of the Great Western Main Line, will be
delivered in May with the other , relating to north west electrification will be “subject to an intensive review with the contractors”. The report states that it is likely that Network rail will only achieve 57 of the 87 regulatory investment milestones for the year as a whole. Costs are also of concern ,with the report forecasting that by the end of the financial year Network Rail will be £116 million over budget due to worse than predicted train performance (resulting in compensation payments having to be made) and predicted savings not materialising.
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Buyer sought for Angel Trains
Rail leasing company Angel Trains is reported to have appointed Citigroup to lead a sale of the company. If sold , Angel will follow rivals Porterbrook and Eversholt to become the third rolling stock leasing company to be sold in a year. Eversholt was sold to Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka-Shing in January, while Porterbrook was bought by a consortium including Allianz Capital Partners in October last year.
Angel Trains, which was founded in 1994, owns approximately 4,500 rail vehicles , including High Speed Trains, multiple units and freight locomotives.
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Rail Innovation competition launched
The rail industry has a long history of innovation, stretching back at least as far as the 1930s when Sir Nigel Gresley developed the concept of a corridor tender on his pacifics to allow footplate crew to swap without the train having to stop.
A £6 million government sponsored competition has been launched by rail minister Claire Perry in a bid to encourage innovation in the rail industry. According to the Department for Transport the project’s aim is to help train operators come up with ‘departures from the norm’ in the way they meet growing demand for rail travel at the same time as improving standards.
It is envisaged that successful proposals will be funded by train operators and their supply chains alongside government support. The ultimate objective is to boost rail capacity while reducing emissions and costs. Claire Perry said: “We use the word ‘innovate’ so often these days that we’ve diluted its meaning. Big corporations employ ‘chief innovation officers’. Publishers churn out titles like ‘Innovation Nation’, or the ‘Little Black Book of Innovation’. Businesses throw the term around to describe things that they should be doing as a matter of course.”
Funded by the DfT and organised by FutureRailway , part of the Rail Safety and Standards Board,The Train Operator Competition (TOC 15) is the latest project with which Application packs are available from it has been associated, others including the TOC15@futurerailway.org. recent trials of a battery powered class 379 on the Harwich Town branch.
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Major upgrade for Waterloo
Following a detailed and stringent procurement process an agreement has been reached between the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, Skanska, Colas Rail, AECOM and Mott MacDonald for the planning and carrying out of major enhancement works at London Waterloo. Plans will now be drawn up by the consortium and the Alliance on how to increase capacity at Waterloo and other inner London stations. These will then be submitted to Department for Transport and the Office of Rail Regulation. Over the last 20 years the increase in passenger journeys from Waterloo has increased by more than 100% to 222 million a year. With 98 million passengers using Waterloo in 2013/14 it is also the UK’s busiest station.
The next four years will see the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance invest hundreds of millions of pounds , including reopening the former Waterloo International terminal platforms so that they may be used on a regular basis and lengthening platforms 1-4 to accommodate 10-car trains. The terminal platforms closed in 2007, when Eurostar services transferred to St Pancars International. Christian Roth, fleet director of the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance said that the objective is : “ Boost peak time capacity by 30% by 2018.”
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Budget is good news for rail
Chancellor George Osborne’s last budget before the election is good news for rail. Mr Osborne announced that the recently created Transport for the North alliance of local authorities and other stakeholders will publish an interim report committed to developing a rail network , built on the concept of High Speed 3, that will deliver high quality rail connections across the north of England and bring the benefits of HS2 to the north sooner than was previously planned. A commitment , subject to an acceptable contribution from Hull Trains and a business case, was also made to electrify the Hull to Selby route in Control Period 6 (2019-2024) Looking south the chancellor indicated that
details will shortly be announced regarding the new Great Western franchise, including a direct award to First Great Western until 2019. No mention was made of diverting the Great Western Main Line away from the coast at Dawlish, something mooted after the severe flood damage of last year. Although the possibility of reopening the Lewes to Uckfield line has been looked at on numerous occasions, the government has said that it will provide ÂŁ100,000 for another study, raising hopes that the former route to the south coast, making it an alternative to the increasingly congested Brighton Main Line, could be reopened in the relatively near future.
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Tokyo stations to be obstacle free by 2020
The Japanese government plans to create a committee tasked with making major stations in Tokyo more accessible for passengers with physical disabilities. Due to be set up this summer, the committee will include members from Tokyo metropolitan government and railway operators and look at how stations can be made obstacle free in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympics.
Previous efforts to make stations, where several lines converge, more accessible have stalled following disagreements over funding share between the parties. This has led the government to step in and take charge to ensure that all work has been completed ahead of the Olympics. Stations near competition venues will be given priority such as those in the waterfront area where the waterfront area, where the athletes’ village and sporting venues are scheduled to be constructed. Smaller stations such as Asakusa and Roppongi are also expected to be modified.
___________________________________________ Swiss Xpress wagonload service launched A fast single wagonload service between Antwerpen and Basel has been launched by Belgium’s national freight operator SNCB Logistics. The new Swiss Xpress service has reduced the transit time from seven to four and a half days by running to a fixed timetable with a limited number of stops and shunting moves. Sam Bruynseels, Chief Commercial Officer at SNCB Logistics. said : “Speed and reliability are what our industrial customers need. They
want to know exactly when their goods will arrive at their destination.”
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