Railnews Magazine

The railway is under siege. There were two derailments on successive days in August near Lewes and at Wickford, when temperatures reached record-breaking levels. The RAIB has identified a ‘track irregularity’ near Lewes, where three coaches of a train overturned, injuring 30 people, while ‘moisture deficit’ has caused railways to sag in various places, so that speed restrictions have been unavoidable. The railway has also been damaged by wildfires, which caused the line between Stourbridge and Hagley to be closed for more than a week.

This month’s feature, ‘Britain’s crumbling railways’, considers these problems, which are made worse by the age of many structures.

In other news, industrial tensions are continuing at East Midlands Railway, where the RMT has called strikes in protest at problems with EMR’s Aurora units.

The RMT has also called for a levy on the profits of ROSCOs, which the union claims could pay for a 2.5 per cent reduction in fares.

The Rail Delivery Group, ASLEF, RSSB and train operators have unveiled a new approach to training drivers. The current approach requires trainees to complete a set number of hours before their final assessment, but from now on assessment will concentrate instead on competence.

Two power cuts caused disruption. The first blacked out Manchester ROC on 6 August, which controls much of north west England, and the second affected CrossCountry’s national control centre in Birmingham, so that almost no CrossCountry trains ran over the weekend of 22-23 August.

Electrification of the Borders Railway between Stow and Tweedbank is beginning to become a reality, as engineers are now installing the steel masts that will support the overhead wires.

Finally, the German state railway is shedding its British freight subsidiary DB Cargo, but the news has caused concern about job security.

Railnews for September is out now.