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Thursday, 25 June 2015

Government

• Update of Network Rail’s performance and the actions the government will take to hold Network Rail to account.Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement about Network Rail following today’s (25 June 2015) publication of their annual report.

BBC News

• PM quizzed on rail upgrade timescaleDavid Cameron is challenged to say whether a project to electrify rail lines between London and Swansea will be completed by 2018.
• Rail arm keeps Stagecoach on trackTransport group Stagecoach reports a rise in underlying pre-tax profits, following a stronger performance from its rail business.

Department for Transport

• Sir Peter Hendy, who delivered London’s Olympic transport plan, appointed as new chair of Network Rail.The Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin announced the appointment of Sir Peter Hendy as Network Rail’s new chairman today (25 June 2015).

Financial Times

• Stagecoach expands European bus businessTransport group’s profit rises 4.5% after a robust performance by British rail operations

The Guardian

• Network Rail funding gap puts brake on five-year plan, ministers admitSoaring costs and missed targets make pledges of £38.5bn investment plan untenable, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin expected to say The catalogue of delay, missed targets and overspending at Network Rail is set to force ministers to admit that the vaunted biggest investment in the railway since Victorian times will not deliver the projects promised in a £38.5bn five-year plan. The electrification of the Midland mainline linking London to Sheffield, described as critical to maintaining a reliable railway, is likely to be axed from the schedule as ministers attempt to get to gri...

The Telegraph

• Demand for train travel fuels profit growth at StagecoachThe group reports a solid year, despite low petrol prices boosting US car travel

This is Money

• Network Rail cuts shamed top staff bonuses of up to £66k due to woeful performance In a bid to draw the sting from continuing criticism, bosses will not now pocket incentives worth up to 16 per cent of their salary. Details are to emerge after Network Rail publishes its annual report.

Birmingham Mail

• Armed police at Birmingham New Street Station over 'suspicious' train passenger British Transport Police call in armed support after reports of passenger behaving suspiciously

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Snowdon Mountain Railway locomotive celebrates its 120th birthdayFour-year-old Enid Roberts - the youngest Enid in the village of Llanberis who shares a name with the locomotive - has been invited to the celebrations

London Evening Standard

• Eurostar delays: Passengers vent anger after being forced to sleep at St Pancras Eurostar passengers today vented their anger after spending the night sleeping at St Pancras station as the rail service battled to clear a massive backlog caused by strikes in France.
• Tube strike: Negotiators 'trying to get Underground bosses and unions back round the table' before July 8 walkout Negotiators are trying afresh to broker a deal between Tube bosses and unions in the hope of staving off a 24-hour strike next month.

Bucks Free Press

• Chesham and Amersham MP Cheryl Gillan says HS2 Select Committee see "unity of opposition" was shown during site visit Cheryl Gillan said members of the HS2 Select Committee were made fully aware of the 'unity of opposition' to the project in Bucks this week.

Carlisle News & Star

• Cumbrian railway links could be brought back to life A 19th-century railway which once formed the backbone of west Cumbria’s iron industry could be brought back to life as a heritage arts trail thanks to a grant of almost £50,000.

Doncaster Free Press

• Festival fans urged to use Sheffield’s public transport to get to TramlinesTramlines has teamed up with ‘Not Driving’ (a sustainable transport campaign), Supertram and Northern Rail to encourage people to ditch their cars and make use of Sheffield’s public transport network over the festival weekend. The main site at Ponderosa Park does not have a parking facility so it’s essential that people are aware of the alternatives.

Other Regional Press

• Network Rail stands by pledge to get passengers between London and Ipswich in 60 minutesThe nationalised company responsible for Britain’s rail infrastructure has insisted that it remains committed to improving train times between the region and London.
• Noise warning for residents as rail improvement works startA major project which will pave the way for more passenger services between Corby, Kettering and London has entered its next phase as work in the Kettering area will start this week.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Tyne and Wear Metro £40m modernisation programmeA multi-million pound investment is being made to modernise the Tyne and Wear Metro over the next year. The owner, Nexus, is spending £40m on train refurbishment and track replacement as part of a £398m Government-funded plan. A new traffic management system will be the largest investment in new technology for the control room since the Metro opened 30 years ago. Central Station and three Gateshead stations will be refurbished. This will include improved seating, lighting and accessibility. Nexus said there would be weekend closures over the summer, but it was not expected tha...
• Bombardier wins London Overground EMU contractTransport for London announced on June 19 that it had selected Bombardier Transportation to supply 45 four-car electric multiple-units to operate London Overground services. The order includes an option for up to 249 additional cars, to be used for train lengthening and possible future extensions of the Overground network. The £260m contract is subject to the statutory 10-day standstill period before signing. CAF, Hitachi and Siemens had also been shortlisted for the contract. The high-density air-conditioned trains with wide gangways are to be built at Bombardier’s Derby factory ...
• Lord Ahmad backs Women in Engineering campaignTransport Minister hosts skills summit to celebrate female engineers working in transport. Women from across the construction and engineering industry today (23 June 2015) met Transport Minister Lord Ahmad as part of a skills summit supporting Women in Engineering Day. The event brought together some of the country’s top female engineers from the rail, aviation and construction sector, alongside recent graduates and engineering students from London Imperial College, to discuss how to better harness women’s skills. Discussions focused on how to overhaul the image of the sector to...
• Transport Minister meets the female engineers building London’s transport networkRail Minister Claire Perry MP has joined female engineers from Transport for London (TfL), Crossrail and Network Rail who are building London’s transport network, and urged more women to consider a career in engineering and transport more widely. Claire Perry joined the women at Farringdon Station, which will provide Thameslink, Crossrail and London Underground services from 2018. With London’s population set to grow from 8.6 million today to 10 million by 2030, the Capital will need significant investment in infrastructure to keep London working and growing. Engineers will be nee...
• HS2 - a passenger view; passenger expectations revealed Transport Focus asked passengers what they would like out of High Speed Two (HS2). Passengers expect HS2 trains and services that are a source of pride throughout Great Britain; a national asset from which the whole country can benefit. These are the key findings of new research by Transport Focus, the independent watchdog, into passengers’ priorities for HS2. These findings are vital not only for the building of HS2, but also for today’s rail services. Anthony Smith, Transport Focus’s chief executive, said: “Building a brand new railway presents a unique opportu...

Rail Magazine

• RMT, TSSA and Unite members vote to accept Network Rail pay offerDeal brokered averting the threat of a national rail strike
• LU marks poet’s birthYeats poem to be displayed on Tubes across the London Underground

Railnews

• Settlement in Network Rail pay dispute Members of the RMT, TSSA and Unite unions have voted to accept the pay offer made by Network Rail on 1 June. The decision has ended the threat of strikes which were called more than once when negotiations had stalled.
• Eurostar 'shambles' as ferry workers strike at Calais Eurostar services are returning to normal today after a day of serious disruption on the French side of the Channel Tunnel. Angry ferry workers staged a wildcat strike from the early hours of the morning in protest at the sale of two MyFerryLink vessels by Eurotunnel to DFDS. Some strikers broke into the Channel Tunnel, forcing all trains to stop, while others threw burning tyres on to the tracks on the approach to the portal. There have also been political clashes. The deputy mayor of Calais has accused the British gobvernment of failing to accept responsibility for the crisis at in his city...

Other News Sources

• Construction heavyweights form HS2 JV Carillion, Eiffage and Kier have become the latest big hitters to form a joint venture to bid for work on High Speed 2.