Railnews Magazine April 2014 Back Issue

Pressure is growing on the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin to make an early decision about the final route of Phase 2 of HS2 as the Hybrid Bill continues its progress through Parliament, and the latest developments make our lead this month. The extension of Crossrail to Reading, the first confirmation of cascades of Thameslink rolling stock and the reopening of the Great Western line at Dawlish are also major stories. Many people around the industry are mourning RMT general secretary Bob Crow after his sad and unexpected death in March, and we report how his colleagues mustered to say farewell at his funeral. As a tribute we also reprint a Guest Opinion he wrote for Railnews last year -- one of the rare occasions that he provided an article for a third-party publication. Also in the news is the appointment of the next Chief Constable of British Transport Police, the opening of a new freight chord at Ipswich and the visit of DfT officials to Derby as part of that city's celebrations of 175 years in the railway industry. We also have the story of the young owl who travelled hundreds of kilometres by freight train -- and survived to fly another day. All this, and much more, is in Railnews for April.