Railnews Magazine November 2016 Back Issue

DEVOLUTION in Scotland may be set to move further, after the Scottish Government demanded that Network Rail become a separate organisation north of the border. The Railnews lead story for November explains how performance problems on ScotRail lie behind this development. The Greater Anglia franchise was launched in mid-October with an ambitious agenda which includes the complete replacement of rolling stock on East Anglian routes. In Guest Opinion, GA managing director Jamie Burles, writing exclusively for Railnews, sets out his programme to transform 'tired' fleets and services, with faster journeys and better stations as well as new trains. It was another difficult month on Southern, as talks with the RMT over driver-only operation broke down twice. The dispute intensified towards the end of October, when the RMT and ASLEF announced strike ballots for their drivers. MPs have also taken a bleak view of Govia Thameslink Railway and franchises generally in a new report. The Transport Select Committee has urged the Department for Transport to 'get a grip' on franchising. The problems of extreme weather are receiving new attention, as Network Rail considers how to make the line through Dawlish more resilient: we have an update on the ideas which now seem to be at the head of the queue. Whether trains run late because of the weather or industrial action, the government has taken the first steps towards increasing compensation arrangements for passengers, which could start to come into effect within months. Our feature for November looks at the revived role of stations as community hubs, while there is also a link between Greater Anglia and cupcakes. Railnews for November explains why.