Railnews Magazine March 2021 Back Issue

A PREDICTION by Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy that holiday and leisure travel by train could increase as lockdowns ease, while commuter traffic could fall by 20 per cent, is the lead story in Railnews for March.

The fact that regulated rail fares have increased by 2.6 per cent in England and Wales while the Budget froze fuel duties for an eleventh year has caused controversy. HS2 is a controversial project too, and the last of the protestors who dug tunnels under Euston Square have finally emerged.

The railway industry has given a mixed response to the Budget, but there has been a welcome for £59 million to help pay for five new stations in the West Midlands, while HS2 Ltd has unveiled plans to create a large area of chalk grassland on the edge of the Chilterns.

Another controversy over the proposed removal of at least 115 former railway bridges and other structures is warming up, with objectors pointing out that some of them are needed by walkers and cyclists, while removing them could also make future railway reopenings more difficult.

Changes within the industry include redundant Heathrow Express trains which have gone north to Siemens’ new train factory at Goole, where they will be fitted out for training apprentices.

A project to accommodate longer freight trains at Southampton has been completed, and a new station has opened on the outskirts of Aberystwyth.

Tram lines in Edinburgh could be extended to Granton, the Bio Quarter and West Lothian by 2030, but proposed open access services between London and Cardiff have been turned down by the Office of Rail and Road. This month’s feature asks whether open access has a future, as the franchises are wound down.

It’s been a busy month, and Railnews for March is out now.