Railnews Magazine June 2016 Back Issue

THE granting pf open access rights to FirstGroup on the East Coast Main Line has caused concern. Stagecoach Group, which owns 90 per cent of the present Intercity East Coast franchise, said it is now ‘considering the implications’ of the ORR decision. This story leads Railnews for June, while Guest Opinion stays on the same theme, with Tony Lodge of the Centre for Policy Studies explaining why he believes more open access is important. This month also sees the launch of a new Railnews comment page, entitled ‘Hot Topic’. In the first of this occasional series, Charles Horton, the CEO of Govia Thameslink Railway, puts the case for changes to staffing on trains. The RMT union, which is in dispute with GTR over several issues, will reply next month. In other news, we report on the first trip made by a new Thameslink Class 700 train from Blackfriars in May: these Siemens units are expected to enter service during June. The Department for Transport has indicated that it is likely to create a new franchise to run the East West Rail Link, while hackles have risen in Northamptonshire over proposals to site a new railfreight interchange, to be known as ‘Rail Central’, in the ‘V’ formed by the divergence of the West Coast Main Line and the Northampton loop near Blisworth. A new station has opened at Lea Bridge in north east London, but it is eighteen months behind schedule and the predicted cost has almost doubled. We speculate whether there are wider implications here for investing in the railway. On a lighter note, we reveal that Virgin Trains is now monitoring its West Coast passengers using a device known as the Awesometer. Why? Read Railnews for June to find out.