Railnews Magazine August 2024 Back Issue

The election of a Labour government has opened the door to major changes in the railway industry, including nationalisation of private sector operators and the creation of Great British Railways. Lord Peter Hendy has been appointed rail minister. This month’s feature compares the current nationalisation plans with the first time the state took ownership, in 1948, while Railnews includes a unique wall planner which will allow you to keep track of the progress with railway reforms.



Three arson attacks disrupted Eurostar services from London and many other high speed trains in France, a few hours before the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris. Data cables had been damaged at three sites.



Here at home, more talks over the train drivers’ pay dispute are set to be held, after a first meeting between ASLEF and the Department for Transport was described as ‘constructive’, although four unions are holding ballots of their members on ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper.



Royal Mail is planning to transfer movements of mail from its own trains to a mixture of road and third-party rail.


Network Rail has said there would be more than 440 worksites in operation over the August Bank Holiday weekend in England and Wales. It will be investing £84.3 million in maintaining and upgrading the railway.



The cost of abandoning HS2 to Crewe and Manchester has topped £2 billion, while some of the money said to have been released is being used on a proposed West Yorkshire tram system.



Chancellor Rachel Reeves has cancelled the £500 million Restoring Your Railway fund.



Finally, tributes have been paid to Sir Kenneth Grange, the designer of British Rail’s first High Speed Trains, who has died at the age of 95. He had thought BR’s original design for the new HSTs was ‘brutal’.



Railnews for August is out now.