Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Wednesday, 24 November 2021

BBC News

• East Midlands Railway to reinstate some cut servicesEast Midlands' main rail operator is to reinstate some services it had cut five months ago.

The Guardian

• Wednesday briefing: Growing Tory clamour for No 10 shake-uprustrations with No 10’s leadership are growing in the Treasury, with Rishi Sunak’s department understood to be concerned about the prime minister’s fumbled timing of decisions. Delayed announcements of the £96bn integrated rail plan and the social care cap have brought scorn and negative coverage for the government, while votes for government policies have been shunned by Tory MPs in parliament.

Times Online

• Chinese bullet trains take wing to hit speeds of 280mph [subscription]Some of the world’s fastest trains may now reach even higher speeds after scientists in China suggested adding “small wings” to the carriages.

Birmingham Post

• East Midlands Railway reinstating 22 regional services that were dropped when the pandemic hitFrom early next year it will be running 486 trains per day, which it says is 87 more than pre-Covid

Bolton News

• Defibrillators to be stationed across railway platformsLIFE-SAVING defibrillators will be stationed across railway platforms thanks to a £134,000 investment by Network Rail and train operator Northern.

Liverpool Echo

• People in town to be isolated after rail link plans rejectedThe Merseyside town is set to suffer as funding is rejected and services are cut

Hull Daily Mail

• Politicians blamed for 'abject failure' over rail services in HullAn independent rail consultant has accused the region's politicians of "abject failure" over Transport for the North. Set up by the government in 2018, the statutory body was the first of its kind and brought together council and transport leaders across to the North to map out priorities for future investment.

Other Regional Press

• Transport for the North and Network Rail looking for reformLeaders from across the North of England are set to consider recommendations from Transport for the North (TfN) which could position the region as a ‘pathfinder for reform’ in shaping what will become the new model for Great British Railways.
• MS welcomes government raising Conwy Valley rail services with Transport for WalesAN MS has stepped up calls for improved rail services between the Conwy Valley and the coast of North Wales.
• What the planned East Coast Mainline upgrade could mean for DoncasterDoncaster could benefit from future upgrades to the East Coast Mainline which are planned from York to London.

New Civil Engineer

• Deteriorating rail services linked to worsening track conditionsThe Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has called on Network Rail to take urgent action on maintaining the conditions of the rail network in order to retain a high level of service.
• Crossrail | Elizabeth line is finally in sight three tumultuous years since last minute delay was announcedAfter three years of turmoil the end is almost in sight for the Crossrail project, with trial operations beginning this week.
• HS2 waiting on Shapps approval to award maligned £2.75bn rolling stock contractHS2 Ltd is waiting on transport secretary Grant Shapps to approve its preferred bidder to supply trains for the High Speed 2 (HS2) network. It has emerged that HS2 Ltd’s board sent its decision to Shapps for approval months ago, according to September board minutes that have just been made public.

Other News Sources

• Freight objections to passengers in WalesA much-improved passenger service connecting communities in Wales and England may not go ahead unless a solution can be found to accommodate rail freight. Despite new trains already on delivery, willingness from the devolved government in Cardiff, and cooperation from local authority leaders in England, the needs of existing freight operators may have been overlooked. As a result, an objection has been lodged, with freight effectively stopping progress in its tracks
• Crossrail likely to need at least another £150m to finishCrossrail is likely to need at least £150m to finish, Transport for London documents have revealed.
• Hopes raised that Oswestry rail line 'could reopen within three years'A mothballed railway line through Oswestry and Gobowen could open within three years if it is proved to be viable, the rail minister said.
• Transport for the North Board Integrated Rail Plan response live press conferenceTransport for the North is holding a Press Conference at the Queen’s Hotel, in Leeds, at 1330hrs on Wednesday 24 November.
• The Oxford-Cambridge Arc: another big-ticket project Boris looks set to abandonOne by one they fall. HS2 has gone in the form it was billed. There will be no bridge or tunnel from Northern Ireland to Scotland. Before that, of course, we had the idea for a London airport built on an island in the Thames Estuary and the Garden Bridge. There was talk, too, of an English Channel bridge. Word reaches me that the latest, to have its future heavily questioned in the recesses of Whitehall is the Oxford-Cambridge Arc or as it is known within government, OxCam Arc or the Arc.