Railnews Magazine July 2017 Back Issue

THE High Court has intervened in the long-running problems on Govia Thameslink Railway by ordering the transport secretary to make a decision about whether Govia should be penalised for poor performance, and Chris Grayling has been given until 13 July to take action.
This development leads Railnews for July, alongside an ominous report from Chris Gibb in which he essentially warns that Southern is not fit for purpose. Quite apart from the DCO dispute, he says the infrastructure cannot support the full Thameslink Programme in 2018, that present timetables make quick recovery from disruption almost impossible, and that some depots are full or in the wrong place.
Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne writes exclusively for Railnews about the prospects for the rapidly changing public sector organisation which, he says, must be ‘decentralised, devolved, innovative and customer focused’, while new trains have been unveiled for South Western and Greater Anglia, including the Bombardier Aventras which will controversially replace almost new Siemens Desiro City sets on SW in 2019.
Supporters of HS2 have welcomed the commitment in the Queen’s Speech to continue with the next phase, although concerns have been voiced that Crossrail 2 was not mentioned.
Alstom has signalled that it could build trains in Britain again after opening a major rolling stock centre at Widnes, and economic growth in many towns and cities is being encouraged by the regeneration of stations, according to a new report from the Rail Delivery Group.
In police news, BTP officer Wayne Marques, who made headlines after he selflessly ran towards the terrorist attackers at London Bridge on 3 June and was badly hurt, has been describing what happened.
All this, and much more, is in Railnews for July.