Railnews Magazine Jun-18 Edizione posteriore

The lead story in Railnews for June is about the sudden resignation of Tim O’Toole as chief executive of FirstGroup, following the news that Transpennine Express could lose £106 million by 2023.

There has been serious disruption on Govia Thameslink and Northern following the launch of new timetables on 20 May, and transport secretary Chris Grayling has been locked in talks with operators and Network Rail as a result. Meanwhile, he has decided to end the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise on 24 June, returning it to public control for the time being, after losses which could cost majority shareholder Stagecoach £200 million.

Still with franchises, a consortium of Amey and Keolis has been chosen to run the new Wales & Borders franchise, beating Hong Kong-based MTR, and the DfT has been sent a ‘priced option’ by South Western Railway to modernise the line on the Isle of Wight.

In other news, the future of HS2 could be an ‘X’ shaped network rather than a ‘Y’, said lobby group Greengauge21. It wants a high speed extension from Birmingham to Bristol and Cardiff. Plans to build a depot to maintain Greater Anglia trains at Manningtree appear to have been scrapped in favour of a £40 million programme at Crown Point in Norwich instead.

London Bridge station was ceremonially opened by Prince William on 9 May, to mark the conclusion of a £1 billion upgrade, and railways played a major part on Royal Wedding day by taking up to 70,000 spectators to Windsor when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle on 19 May.

The successor to Mark Carne as chief executive of Network Rail has been named as Andrew Haines, and the biggest shake-up in rail fares for more than 20 years is being launched by operators.

Railnews for June is out now.