Railnews Magazine

Railnews for May leads with the news that Arriva has submitted a new open access application to the Office of Rail and Road to run direct services between Newcastle, Gatwick Airport and Brighton. The application is the latest in a series of open access bids which have been lodged since last July’s general election.

This month South Western Railway will be the first operator to be renationalised since that election, and our Feature considers the rise and fall of franchising.

The RAIB has confirmed several sander faults on a Class 158 unit involved in a fatal head-on collision in mid-Wales last October.

Train services on East West Rail are not expected to start until almost the end of this year.

Network Rail is preparing for summer by painting some rails white to reflect the heat, and also for autumn and winter by signing contracts with freight operators to clear leaves and snow from railways.

In infrastructure news, Network Rail is carrying out more than 630 projects during the May Bank Holidays, repairs to brickwork in Blackheath tunnel mean that trains must be diverted for ten weeks, railway bridges in Glasgow have been refurbished at a cost of £1.5 million, and a tunnel portal on HS2 is being described as ‘porous’, because air is pushed out of the way.

The post-Covid recovery is continuing, because the number of commuters travelling to work by train has reached 30 per cent of the total.

A loss of power and a damaged pantograph disrupted trams in Manchester on 29 April, and testing of tram trains has started on the South Wales Metro.

In international news, Eurostar has called for investment to fuel international rail growth, and Italian Railways intends to launch services between London and Paris by 2029.

Railnews for May is out now.