Rail.co Latest news. Friday 6th January 2012

Rail.co

• Northern rail services ˜may be devolved"  The Department of Transport is in talks with the West Yorkshire passenger transport executive regarding devolving the Northern and TransPennine rail franchises to local control. One of the options under discussion includes the government subsidising a Northern Rail Executive for a period of 15 years, with the executive paying a train operator to provide the [...]

• 100th corporate member joins Rail Forum  Swadlincote based Dellner Couplers Limited has become the 100th business to join local trade and lobby group the Derby & Derbyshire Rail Forum. Dellner specialises in providing and maintaining train connection systems, including couplers, dampers and gangways to railways worldwide. The company’s UK headquarters is in the Derbyshire town of Swadlincote, but Dellner is no [...]

• Train companies ˜cancel free assistance to the disabled" ‘Most private train companies have banned their booking office staff providing free assistance to disabled people who need help planning their journey’, the TSSA union has said. Disabled people ‘can no longer get direct help at stations but have been told to ring 0845 numbers instead and book by phone’, said union leader Manuel Cortes. [...]

• Transport for London & CBS Outdoor renew advertising contract  Transport for London (TfL) and CBS Outdoor have confirmed CBS Outdoor will retain responsibility for all adverts on the London Underground network through TfL’s commercial advertising concession. CBS Outdoor has held the commercial advertising concession since 2006 and is responsible for advertising sites across the London Underground network. As well as the traditional advertising sites [...]

• TfL launches flower campaign to raise awareness  Transport for London is hoping a new campaign, featuring flowers painted on the ground at 15 spots around Croydon where trams share the streets with cars and pedestrians, will help make people more aware of their surroundings and avoid them colliding with trams. The message accompanying the flowers is ‘Don’t be remembered like this – [...]

• Leicestershire school considers subsidising pupils' rail travel  Humphrey Perkins School in Leicestershire is considering subsidising train travel for its 51 pupils living in Sileby following council cuts that have decimated bus subsidies resulting in the axing of the free school bus. The school, located in Barrow-upon-Soar is currently in talks with East Midlands Trains and ‘would expect parents to contribute £1.05 a [...]

• Merseyrail proposes alcohol ban on all services  Following its successful pioneering campaign that has seen antisocial passengers prosecuted for putting their feet on seats, Merseyrail is proposing making all their trains and stations ‘dry’ to deter alcohol related crimes on the network. Should the ban on drinking alcohol go ahead, Merseyrail would become the first train operator outside of London to introduce [...]

• Whitecraigs named top station in Scotland  Whitecraigs station in East Renfrewshire was today named as the top station in the country by Keep Scotland Beautiful, the environmental charity. The organisation has spent six months assessing all 346 stations in Scotland on issues ranging from clearing litter to recycling, waste management, and community links. Assessments to Bronze, Silver or Gold status were available in Keep Scotland [...]

• Freightliner Heavy Haul signs new deal with EDF Energy  Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd and EDF Energy today confirmed that they have entered into a new rail haulage agreement for coal deliveries into EDF Energy's power stations at Cottam and West Burton. The revised, long term deal gives EDF Energy increased capacity to meet its future requirements and builds upon the excellent service performance record [...]

• Gatwick express launches online sale  Gatwick Express, the UK's non-stop rail service from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria, has launched its biggest ever online sale. As ‘more and more people are choosing to travel with Gatwick Express with passenger journeys increasing by almost a fifth last year, customers will now be able to buy even cheaper tickets for this popular, [...]

• Direct Rail Services invests in new diesel locomotives  Direct Rail Services (DRS), the UK's leading rail freight operator, has recently ordered a fleet to of newly designed mixed traffic diesel locomotives for use in its key intermodal and passenger train operations. The Vossloh Espana Eurolight UK locomotives are a derivative of the Eurolight locomotive (already running in Germany) and have been developed for [...]