News

ScotRail has been awarded the prestigious Investing in Volunteers accreditation by Volunteer Scotland for its ongoing Adopt-a-Station volunteering programme. The Investing in Volunteers (IiV) accreditation is the UK quality standard for good practice in volunteer management, and recognises the incredible contribution made by volunteers.

Great Western Railway has signed a deal with manufacturer Vivarail to trial new battery-charging technology on its network, paving the way for battery-only trains to run in regular passenger service in the future. The trial, supported by Network Rail, will take place on the Greenford branch line later this year and test Vivarail’s trackside fast-charging equipment in an operational setting for the first time.

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) won twice at the national Trade Association Forum Awards 2022. RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan won the ‘Trade Association Leadership Award’, and RIA topped the ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ category. Darren Caplan’s Trade Association Leadership Award was recognition of progress made by RIA in the last five years. The Diversity & Inclusion Award recognised the work of the RIA team, particularly Policy Director Kate Jennings and Senior Policy Executive Isabella Lawson, in launching, together with Women in Rail, the Rail EDI Charter.

An automatic sliding step that will transform accessibility on the Tyne and Wear Metro’s new trains has been revealed. The sliding step is a key feature of the new £362 million Metro fleet, making life easier for thousands of customers when boarding and alighting by eliminating the gap between the train and the platform edge.

They will be located at every door of the new trains, making boarding easier for Metro’s 50,000 wheelchair customers as well as people with children’s buggies, luggage or bicycles.

The sliding step will automatically deploy from beneath the door sill every time the new Metro train pulls into a station, closing the gap between the platform. It then automatically retracts before the doors close and the train pulls away.

New photos released today show the new boarding system, passenger saloon and driver cab doors being put through their paces as final assembly of the new Metro trains continues.

Both the sliding step and the doors are being made by a company called Bode Die Tur, who specialise in the development and production of electronic door and boarding systems at their factory in the city of Kassel in Hessen, central Germany – which has recently been refitted following severe flash flooding in the region in 2019.

Metro’s operator, Nexus, and the Swiss train builder, Stadler, have conducted an official inspection of this transformative piece of technology. The visit to the Bode factory was a chance to test the sliding step and doors ahead of them going into full production.

When the sliding step and door systems are completed they will be transported to the Stadler assembly line for installation on each of the 46 new trains.

The first stage of work to improve the gateway to and from York’s famous railway station is now taking place on Queen Street. The ambitious York Station Front scheme will completely transform the station frontage, providing an improved transport interchange, as well as revamping the public space around the station. The scheme aims to encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport to access the station, as well as creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment around the front of the railway station for the public. The scheme will also create an improved setting for the City Walls and other heritage buildings in the area.

Last year a planning application was approved to transform the front of York Railway Station. This will provide an improved transport interchange and public spaces around the station for people to enjoy. The full scheme which is valued at over £25 million, is funded by the West Yorkshire-Plus Transport Fund and the Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund.

This major scheme will be delivered in partnership by City of York Council, Network Rail, LNER and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The work on Queen Street marks the beginning of the project with the main stage of work on the scheme set to begin later this year. We are engaging with contractors to minimise disruption for those who live and work in the area.

HS2’s online jobs board, which advertises all the latest vacancies from HS2’s Phase One construction partners, has reached a landmark milestone having promoted over 2,000 job opportunities in its first year.

The digital platform, which launched on 28 January 2021 and is hosted on the HS2 website hs2.org.uk/supply-chain-jobs, offers those looking for work or a change of career the opportunity to search the very latest vacancies with HS2’s construction partners and station contractors delivering the London – Birmingham section of the railway.

The jobs board allows candidates to search for vacancies by region or by specialism, so they can quickly identify opportunities that match their criteria. In total, 2004 vacancies were advertised in the twelve months since the site launched, with over 700 opportunities in the West Midlands, over 700 in Greater London and almost 600 in the central region covering Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. A small number of vacancies were also advertised in the North West and South West.

HS2 Minister, Andrew Stephenson said: ‘As Europe’s largest infrastructure project, it’s our responsibility to ensure HS2 creates thousands of long-lasting jobs across the entire nation. Advertising 2000 jobs in just one year is a huge achievement and shows that we’re delivering on our promises of boosting the economy and levelling up the country.’

On 18 February, Japan, as Chair of the UK’s Accession Working

Group on behalf of the CPTPP members, confirmed the UK will move into second and final phase of accession to join £8.4 trillion CPTPP free trade area.

Neil Walker, Exports Director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: ‘RIA welcomes progress on the UK’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The economic grouping of eleven nations is estimated to represent 13-14 per cent of global GDP, and is home to around 500 million people, making it a key market for UK rail businesses.

‘As countries look to invest in rail all around the world, as an environmentally friendly form of transport, there is a major opportunity for UK rail businesses to support that expansion through tariff-free trade. A successful UK CPTPP application will help rail supply businesses, including RIA members, navigate and succeed overseas.’

Network Rail is investing £4 million to renew a key junction on the line between Edinburgh and Dundee. Over two weekends in February, the junction near Leuchars station will undergo a major upgrade where our engineers will work around-the-clock to renew points (rails which move to transfer trains from one line to another) and replace track.

Leuchars is the closest station to St Andrew’s and the junction is vital for connecting train passengers between Scotland’s capital city and Dundee and Aberdeen. This work will help improve the reliability of the track and means the junction won’t need to be renewed again for decades.