Railnews Magazine October 2013 Special Issue

This year marks two anniversaries for Railnews. One is the completion of 50 years of publication since we began as the staff newspaper of British Railways, while this month sees the 200th issue following the relaunch of Railnews as an independent newspaper in 1997.

So we are in celebratory mood, and have a special feature recalling some of the notable stories we have covered since 1963, with illustrations from our unique archive. We also gave our designer an extra job by asking him to devise a souvenir front cover in the style of fifty years ago.

Back in 2013, we bring the story right up to date with four special articles commissioned from some of today’s key industry figures. Rail minister Simon Burns explains why HS2 must go ahead, RMT general secretary Bob Crow makes the case for renationalisation, while FirstGroup chief executive Tim O’Toole maintains that the railway has boomed thanks to the private sector. Our fourth article is from Stephen Joseph, who heads the Campaign for Better Transport. In spite of improvements, you won’t be surprised to learn he believes there is more to be done yet.

There is plenty of news this month, too: David Higgins is joining HS2, National Express has reversed a recent trend by signing two passenger rail franchises in Germany, bidding has begun for c2c and Thameslink and there are some intriguing developments on the horizon in ‘flexible’ ticketing. We also have an exclusive preview of how ERTMS signalling is set to spread around the network between now and the mid-2020s.

In addition, there are two pages of keenly-argued points of view from our readers and the first photographs of how London King’s Cross looks now following the opening of its square last week. And why could it be the last mile for the yard and the chain on the railway? The answer, and much more, is in the special 40-page edition of Railnews for October.