Railnews Magazine

Railnews for June leads with the news that the first operator to be renationalised by the government was launched on 25 May, while shortly afterwards the Chancellor announced that the city regions outside London will be receiving a total of £15.6 billion for public transport over the next five years.

The transfer of South Western Railway to public ownership is the first of ten renationalisations, with c2c set to follow in July. The rest will be back in public hands by 2027.

This month’s feature also revisits the history of franchising on the railways, and compares what was claimed about privatisation in the 1990s with what is being said about renationalisation now. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has spoken in favour of open access operators, saying they have ‘huge potential’, although there seems to be little support for recent applications from the DfT or Network Rail. Even so, Arriva has now applied for a licence to run two daily services between London and Hereford.

A tractor driver was arrested on suspicion of endangering railway passengers after a collision with a train on a farm crossing near Ludlow on 22 May. Two people on the train who received minor injuries were taken to hospital, but the tractor driver was unhurt and the train was not derailed.

In other news, Lord Blunkett unveiled a £16 billion plan for railways in Yorkshire on 16 May, the Office of Rail and Road says improvements are needed to fare enforcement methods because they are inconsistent and not always fair, an Oxfordshire MP is campaigning against the closure of a level crossing in Bicester on the grounds that such a closure would ‘cut the town in half’, and Scotland’s latest reopened railway to Levenmouth carried 300,00 people in its first year.

Railnews for June is out now.