HS “New” to replace HS2
HS2 Birmingham to Manchester is dead. Long live HS New Birmingham to Manchester. Civic leaders in the Midlands and North West of England are getting behind a study…
BBC Nightsleeper is a Caledonian Creeper
European sleepers are slumbering back into life. They make perfect environmental sense, now all the operators have to do is persuade enough people that an overnight slumber is…
HS2 in turmoil after official report
A highly critical report has cast doubt over many aspects of Britain’s HS2 high speed rail project. The independent National Audit Office, which reviews government expenditure, has published…
UK manifesto from High Speed Rail Group
A comprehensive long-term strategy to develop the UK’s inter-urban rail network. That, says the industry-wide High Speed Rail Group, is essential for future economic growth and achieving net…
Europe’s busiest mixed traffic route blocked
The West Coast Main Line, which connects London with Birmingham, Manchester Liverpool and Glasgow, is blocked by a freight train derailment. The incident happened overnight Wednesday-Thursday, at a…
Bletchley’s development is no enigma
Bletchley was once a sleepy village in the Buckingham countryside, about 43 miles (69 km) north of London. Sleepy, and with a modesty little halt on the West…
A catalogue of calamities blight Britain’s festive railway getaway
There has not been much in the way of festive cheer on the UK railways. Strike action may have come to end (with the considerable exception of London…
British university warns of solar threat to railway safety
Lancaster University in the north of England, has claimed that solar flares could knock out signalling systems and cause red signals to turn green. The rather alarmist claims…
Scotland’s Railway bridge installation is among the biggest in Europe
Engineers in Scotland have begun an intense ten-day programme to install a 5,000-tonne bridge on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at Ravenscraig in North Lanarkshire. The site…
New British-built Hitachi trains on trial with Avanti West Coast
Passenger operator Avanti West Coast has taken delivery of two units of their new British-built Hitachi trains. The designated class 805 sets have broken cover and made their…
Britain faces decades of climate disruption says minister in the hot seat
This week’s heatwave has put pressure on UK infrastructure like never before. The unprecedented closure of the East Coast Main Line, in the face of temperatures more akin…
Does HS2 threaten the future of Britain’s tilting trains?
UK passenger operator Avanti West Coast is putting its Pendolino tilting train fleet refurbishment into full swing with the release of the first upgraded sets into revenue-earning service.…
First refurbished Avanti West Coast Pendolino enters service
Avanti West Coast’s first refurbished Pendolino has returned to service this week after being transformed as part of the UK’s biggest train upgrade. 55 trains will follow as…
North of England the big loser in cancellation of HS2 plans
The worst kept secret in Britain is finally out. The high speed rail network, planned for the north east of England is officially scrapped. The transport secretary Grant…
UK West Coast new speed record attempt failed
An attempt to break a 37-year old speed record on Europe’s busiest mixed-traffic route has failed, by just 21 seconds, on a journey lasting almost four hours. Passenger…