Railnews Magazine November 2023 Back Issue

The cancellation of proposals to close nearly all railway ticket offices in England has been given a wide welcome, and the government’s decision leads the November edition of Railnews.

Autumn weather struck during October and November, and two destructive storms caused serious disruption on many National Rail lines. There was unrelated disruption on the East Coast and Midland Main Lines, because of damage to the overhead lines near Peterborough and a subsiding embankment at Market Harborough, while a section of the Far North Line was closed so that engineers could repair a sea wall. Meanwhile, Avanti West Coast was under fire again for cancelling trains during December.

Disruption in the future became more likely when members of the RMT voted in favour of another six months of strikes, although no dates for stoppages on National Rail have been announced so far. However, two RMT strikes affected the Docklands Light Railway on 7 and 8 November.

In city news, Arriva has been sold by German state-owned train operator Deutsche Bahn to a US investor, Network Rail’s spending plans for Control Period 7 have been approved by the Office of Rail and Road, a Spanish consortium including National Express is set to compete with Eurostar and a £93.4 million contract for Cambridge South station has been awarded by Network Rail.

In the metro sector, a ‘revolutionary’ light rail track has been demonstrated at Dudley in the West Midlands and an agreement between TfL, the Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport has saved one-day London Travelcards. TfL has also celebrated 90 years of returning passengers’ items at its Lost Property Office, which was opened in October 1933.

Finally, a West Yorkshire man at Bradford Interchange has been hailed as the railway’s ‘Mr Recycling’. The November edition of Railnews is out now.