Railnews Magazine November 2019 Edizione posteriore

THE fate of the reviews into HS2 and the structure of the railway industry seems to be unknown, although industry review leader Keith Williams has revealed that his lead recommendation is a new industry body to manage franchises and ‘bring track and train together’. The HS2 review seems almost certain to be delayed until after the election, while its deputy chairman Lord Berkeley says he and the review team had to step down last week, leaving only Douglas Oakervee and the DfT in charge of the final conclusions.

In this month’s feature we recall the early days of HS2, and how the proposed route north of Birmingham could have looked quite different.

In other news, the installation of a pioneering automatic braking system on London trams has begun in the wake of the Croydon tram crash, the number of Pacers staying in service during the first few months of next year has risen, and strikes on Merseyrail have been suspended by the RMT, after what the union described as a ‘breakthrough’ offer from management.

The Department for Transport has issued an updated list of outstanding rail enhancement schemes which would need a total investment of billions of pounds, a section of tunnel on the approaches to London King’s Cross is being brought back into use to boost capacity, Network Rail began a major upgrade of the Coastway West route in West Sussex and Hampshire between Barnham, Chichester and Havant on 26 October, and most LNER trains from Lincoln are now being worked by Hitachi-built Intercity Expresses, with Harrogate set to follow soon.

Autumn weather has been posing problems, and trains have been disrupted by floods in several places. Meanwhile, Network Rail has launched an expanded programme of leaf clearing on railways.

This, and much more, is in Railnews for November.