Railnews Magazine October 2014 Edizione posteriore

The Scottish vote against independence has not ended the devolution debate, because the Railnews lead story for October reports the growing calls for more powers in the regions, including decisions about rail franchises and other transport projects. Meanwhile, a new franchise was launched in September that will become the biggest in Britain next year, when the present Thameslink/Great Northern operation is merged with Southern under the overall control of Govia. To accompany our report about the Govia Thameslink Railway, we also have some new pictures of London Bridge taken from the top of the Shard, 300 metres above the teams who are rebuilding the station. In other news we cover the latest HS2 developments, including speculation that the route of Phase 2 may not be confirmed for some years to come. Our feature asks whether private or public ownership of railways is preferable -- a highly topical question as Network Rail passed into public ownership at the start of September while the arguments for and against the reprivatisation of East Coast continue. On a lighter note, we have an exclusive picture of the cat we found on duty at a London Underground station, making the most of its nine lives. These are just some of the topics in Railnews for October.