Railnews Magazine

The lead story in Railnews for March is that government has announced plans to restore regular freight services through the Channel Tunnel, using the yard at Ripple Lane Barking as the London depot.

Another high speed line is also in the news, because engineers working on HS2’s triangular junction outside Birmingham have completed the construction of four parallel viaduct decks.

The RMT is demanding stronger legal protection for transport workers, and a new law banning people who behave unacceptably on the railway could be introduced in Scotland. Meanwhile, London Underground services may be disrupted later this month, after RMT drivers voted in favour of a strike in protest at TfL proposals to introduce a four day working week.

Many of the trains built in the early days of privatisation are now reaching middle age, and a mid-life refurbishment of a Bombardier-built Voyager was unveiled at Litchurch Lane in Derby on 10 February. A much newer train in the shape of a GWR Intercity Express made a surprise appearance on East West Rail on 18 February, but there continues to be no firm opening date for the restored line.

The Borders Railway will be closed over three weekends this month, so that parts of the line can be electrified just over a decade since it opened, but another proposed service is in jeopardy because the Go-op Co-operative has warned that its proposed operation is facing ‘a hostile investment environment’ which is partly caused by wider railway reforms. The Commons Transport Committee has called for assurances in the Railways Bill that there will no micromanagement of Great British Railways by the government.

Finally, the Planning Committee of the City of London has voted in favour of granting planning permission for the redevelopment of Liverpool Street station.

Railnews for March is out now.