International & UK Railway News Saturday 14th December 2013

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Monday 16th December 2013

The Cathedrals Express (Steam Dreams)

• 44871 or 45407 London (pu) - Purley (pu) - Redhill (pu) - Haywards Heath (pu) - Hove (pu) - Chichester (pu) - Salisbury (pu) - Sherborne (break/rev) & return

Wednesday 18th December 2013

Edinburgh Christmas Statesman (Statesman Rail)

• WCRC Class 47 (Pair) Hull (pu) - Brough (pu) - Howden (pu) - Selby (pu) - Leeds (pu) - Shipley (pu) - Keighley (pu) - Skipton (pu) - Settle (pu) - Appleby - Carlisle - Beattock - Edinburgh Waverley and return

Thursday 19th December 2013

The Cathedrals Express (Steam Dreams)

• 4464 London Kings Cross (pu) - Potters Bar (pu) - Stevenage (pu) - Peterborough (pu) - York (break/rev) & return

Saturday 21st December 2013

The Beverley Humber (Pathfinder Tours)

• DRS Class 37 x 2 Newport (pu) - Bristol Parkway (pu) - Cam & Dursley (pu) - Cheltenham Spa (pu) - Worcester Shrub Hill (pu) - Kidderminster (pu) - Stourbridge Junction (pu) - Birmingham New Street (pu) - Doncaster - Beverley (break/rev) & return

The Olympia Express For The London International Horse Show (Private Charter)

• Hastings DEMU Hastings (pu) - Battle (pu) - Robertsbridge (pu) - Etchingham (pu) - Wadhurst (pu) - Tunbridge Wells (pu) - Tonbridge (pu) - Kensington Olympia (break/rev) & return

The Christmas Yorkshireman (Railway Touring Company)

• 60009 London Victoria (pu) - St.Albans (pu) - Luton (pu) - Bedford (pu) - Kettering (pu) - Corby - Oakham - Melton Mowbray (pu) - Loughborough - Alfreton - Chesterfield - York
• WCR Diesel York (pu) - Chesterfield - Alfreton - Loughborough - Melton Mowbray (sd) - Oakham - Kettering (sd) - Bedford (sd) - Luton (sd) - St. Albans (sd) - London Victoria.

Christmas Lunch By Steam (VSOE)

• 35028 London Victoria (pu) - Staines - Woking - Guildford - Shalford - Reigate - Redhill - East Croydon - London Victoria

Sunday 22nd December 2013

The Cathedrals Express (Steam Dreams)

• 45407 and 44871 Canterbury East (pu) - Faversham (pu) - Rainham (pu) - Meopham (pu) - Bromley South (pu) - Clapham High Street (pu) - Redhill (pu) - Edenbridge (pu) - Tonbridge (pu) - Ashford - Folkestone - Dover - Canterbury East (sd) - Faversham (sd) - Rainham (sd) - Meopham (sd) - Bromley South (sd) - Clapham High Street (sd) - Redhill (sd) - Edenbridge (sd) - Tonbridge

 

 

UK Network Rail

 

New campaign to bring station escalator falls down

 

A new CCTV and poster campaign launched today to coincide with the busy festive period aims to reduce the hundreds of incidents each year involving people slipping or falling on railway station escalators.

The latest annual figures* show more than 400 people took a tumble on an escalator at the 17 biggest and busiest stations managed by Network Rail, including Birmingham New Street, London Paddington, Leeds and Edinburgh Waverley.

The number of people hurt on escalators is down by more than 20% compared with the previous year (512) - however the same causes of incidents remain. Trying to carry heavy luggage, high heels and alcohol all contribute to the total according to Network Rail.

 

 

 

 

Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director of network operations, said: "Stations are increasingly busy places but the majority of slips and falls we see could still be avoided. We often see people struggling with several pieces of luggage on escalators when the lift would be easier for them. It might sound obvious, but simply holding the handrail can be the difference between an uneventful escalator ride and a bump and bruise – or worse. We hope that the new campaign will act as a friendly reminder to take a little extra care when you're travelling during this busy festive period."


Ian Prosser, Director of Railway Safety at the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said:“We welcome Network Rail’s latest campaign to raise awareness of safety risks from slips, trips and falls on escalators within railway stations. This is a timely reminder that a seasonal mix of alcohol, presents, luggage and in some cases high heels can leave rail users more prone to injuries over the festive period.”

The poster, which will be placed in all 17 Network Rail managed stations across Britain, features a 'balloon man' about to step onto an escalator filled with drawing pins. The creative analogy aims to draw attention to the fact that a moving staircase can be dangerous and that you need to take extra care. This, along with a YouTube montage of CCTV footage of recent incidents, highlighting the often painful consequences of taking a tumble at a station, will run for four weeks.

Notes:

*The statistics are from 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013.

Station : Number of slips, trips or falls on escalatorsBirmingham New Street 32

Charing Cross (London) 1

Edinburgh Waverley 25

Euston 10

Fenchurch Street 10

Glasgow Central 5

King's Cross 22

Leeds 41

Liverpool Lime Street 12

London Liverpool Street 44

London Bridge 16

Manchester Piccadilly 39

London Paddington 54

St Pancras International Station 30

St Pancras (Lower Level) 25

London Victoria 11

London Waterloo 41

TOTAL 418

National train performance for period 9 is 84.4%

Punctuality on the railways reached 84.4% during Period 9, according to monthly performance data released today by Network Rail.

The data for Britain's train services covers the period from 10 November 2013 - 07 December 2013. This compares to 85.4% for the same period last year. The moving annual average is now at 90.4%.

Franchise	Punctuality % Period 9, 2013/14	Punctuality % Period 9, 2012/13	Moving annual average (MAA)
Arriva Trains Wales	87.1	92.3	93.5
c2c Rail	97.3	95.9	97.2
Chiltern	93.6	94.4	95.2
Crosscountry	80.9	76.0	87.5
East Coast	78.6	76.7	82.3
East Midlands Trains	87.7	89.2	91.1
First Capital Connect	80.5	84.8	86.6
First Great Western	84.1	80.7	88.8
First Scotrail	83.6	88.2	91.3
First Transpennine Express	84.8	87.3	90.1
Greater Anglia	86.8	89.2	92.0
London Midland	76.0	77.0	85.0
London Overground	94.8	97.3	96.0
Merseyrail	90.5	91.9	95.7
Northern Rail	81.8	84.5	90.5
Southeastern	82.9	81.3	90.6
Southern	81.8	81.9	87.6
South West Trains	86.4	83.3	91.3
Virgin Trains	79.5	79.7	83.6
Total	84.4	85.4	90.4

Notes:

• Delays attributable to Network Rail (this includes external factors such as fatalities, which made up around 20% of all delays) accounted for 60% of delays nationally during the period
• For London Midland, performance suffered from a variety of significant incidents. These included a heavy impact by the severe weather, fallen trees on the line and overhead line equipment failures, as well as trespass and fatality incidents, freight locomotive failures, autumn conditions and displaced traincrew. London and South East services performed better than regional trains, with PPM notably higher than the same period last year, leading to a PPM MAA improvement for the sector
• Arrived on time - the measure of train punctuality also known as PPM (public performance measure) means trains arriving at their destinations within five minutes for commuter services and within 10 minutes for long distance services.
• This measure of punctuality is commonly used throughout Europe
• National train punctuality is measured for all trains across the whole network, including cancelled services and delays caused by external factors (such as vandalism, extreme weather, suicides etc).
• Punctuality did not start to be recorded in this vigorous and thorough way until 1997. Before then Railtrack, and BR before, did not measure all services and also excluded external factors and other items from their numbers
• These figures represent provisional data for the period and individual operators' performance data may vary slightly from the full period performance report that
• Network Rail publishes on its website every month
• Network Rail and the train operators run more trains across Great Britain than are run in most European countries - almost 20% more than in France and 60% more than in Italy.
• Great Britain's 24,000 trains per-day is also more than Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Norway combined

Shedmaster Railway News

Taskforce to study electrification in northern England - Railway Gazette

Valenciennes inaugurates second tram line - Railway Gazette

World Heritage & Railway News

4593 Pitchford Hall returns for repair | The UK's Only Main Line Heritage Railway

GWR - Gloucestershire's mainline heritage railway - Last chance to see Foremarke Hall in action before its ten-year overhaul

GWR 7903 "Foremarke Hall" at Winchcombe on a Driving and Firing course on Friday 8th May 2009

Railway Engineering News

First long Flexity Berlin tram delivered - Railway Gazette

BNSF Railway Foundation donation goes to National Civil Rights Museum | Friends of BNSF

Crossrail - News

Transport Secretary visits Midlands factory building Crossrail station from 130 miles away

Construction of Crossrail station underway at state-of-the-art Midlands factory 130 miles north of London

Companies from outside London urged to seize opportunities created by Europe’s biggest construction project

Benefits of Crossrail felt well beyond the capital as project creates jobs and business opportunities right around the UK

The Transport Secretary and Crossrail Chief Executive are urging businesses from outside London to ensure that they reap the benefits of the construction of the capital’s £14.8bn rail link.

On Monday 9 December, they visited Laing O’Rourke’s state-of-the-art factory in Steetley, in the East Midlands, where the construction of Crossrail’s new Custom House station is underway. Large sections of the station are being built in Steetley and then transported more than 130 miles to East London and assembled on site.


 This process saves time and money and ensures that disruption to residents, existing rail services and the nearby ExCeL London conference centre are minimised as far as possible.

Companies from right around the UK are being urged to make the most of the many thousands of business opportunities that will arise in Crossrail’s supply chain over the coming years.

It is estimated that Crossrail will generate at least 75,000 business opportunities and support the equivalent of 55,000 full time jobs right around the UK. Three out of five businesses currently winning work on the project are based outside London and over half (58%) are SMEs.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Those who said that only the capital would reap the benefits of Crossrail are being proven wrong.
“Crossrail is presenting thousands of business opportunities for companies across the country, and with those come thousands of jobs. It is excellent to see how the Midlands is benefiting from the project and I would urge other regions to follow suit.”
Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive said: “The work taking place in Steetley is evidence that Crossrail is not just benefitting London and the South East, it is creating jobs and business opportunities right around the UK.

“It may seem unusual for a station to be constructed 130 miles away, but the method saves time and money and minimises disruption. The job on site at Custom House becomes one of assembly rather than traditional construction, significantly simplifying the process of building a station. Crossrail is committed to capturing the kind of innovation on display at Steetley to ensure that it can be applied to future projects and continue to drive up standards in the industry.”

Russell Kellett, Laing O’Rourke Director of Manufacturing said: “It’s thanks to the latest advances in digital engineering that allow our designers to model every aspect of the new station virtually, and then manufacture the major structural components here in the factory.  This ensures that every item is made to a far higher quality than possible on site, the whole build process is more efficient, and the sustainability benefits are improved through fewer vehicle movements and less time required on site compared to traditional methods.”  

The Laing O’Rourke Explore Industrial Park, which is built on the site of a former colliery, employs 275 people, 80% of whom live within a 20 mile radius of the plant. The factory supports construction projects across the UK through the manufacture of major components in a high quality environment.

The knock-on supply chain impact in the local area is also significant, with dozens of nearby suppliers providing the plant with vital goods and services. These include:

• Aggregates and sand from Lafarge Tarmac three miles from the plant
• Cement from Hope Cement Works located in the Peak District
• Insulation from SIG Insulation

Crossrail progress videos

Crossrail is the biggest engineering project in Europe. When it opens in 2018, Crossrail will connect 37 stations, including Heathrow airport and Maidenhead in the west with Canary Wharf, Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east.

You can use this section of the website to browse video galleries from across the project.  We want to give you the opportunity to see the works that are taking place across our sites and behind our hoardings.

You can also view all of our video content on the Crossrail YouTube channel.

If there are other elements of the project that you want to see why not let us know by filling out the contact form at the top of this page, or by contacting the Crossrail Helpdesk.

GOV.UK

Road and rail projects to boost local and regional transport

Congested local roads, key points in the strategic road network and rail electrification schemes are set to benefit from funding.


Dozens of towns and cities are set to benefit from government funding to tackle congested local roads and improve key points in the strategic road network, as well as new initiatives to drive forward rail electrification.

Measures announced by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin include £49 million from the Local Pinch Point Fund for 25 congestion-busting local roads schemes, building on 87 already announced this year; confirmation of nearly £111 million for the M6-Heysham link road, along with funding for projects to improve the M55 J1, A1, and M62 J19; and electrification of the Wigan-to-Bolton railway line. A taskforce will report to the Transport Secretary within 12 months on the acceleration of further rail electrification schemes in the North of England.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, said:

Whether it’s unblocking bottlenecks on local roads, improving trouble spots on our motorways and trunk roads, or working to deliver better railways through electrification, these projects will benefit communities up and down the country and help keep Britain moving. By investing in our local and regional transport infrastructure we can help support new jobs and boost our overall competitiveness in the global economic race.

Of the 25 new local pinch point schemes, many are expected to be delivered in 2014 and 2015. Today’s (13 December 2013) announcement brings the total number of schemes to receive investment from the government’s Local Pinch Point Fund to 112. The £266 million which has been awarded to local authorities since the start of the fund will enable local transport improvements of over £511 million to go ahead. Based on the estimates received from promoting authorities, the schemes awarded funding from the fund to date have the potential to support more than 200,000 jobs and around 150,000 new homes. The fund reflects the government’s commitment to supporting economic growth by tackling barriers on the local highway network that may be restricting the movement of goods and people. The fund is aimed at schemes that can be delivered quickly with immediate impact.

The areas benefitting from the funding allocated today (13 December 2013) are:

• Birmingham
• Blackpool
• Bracknell Forest
• Cheshire West and Chester
• Cornwall
• Coventry
• Cumbria
• Darlington
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council
• Essex
• Hampshire
• Lancashire
• Leeds
• Leicester
• Newcastle
• North East Lincolnshire
• North Somerset
• Northamptonshire
• Oldham
• Oxfordshire
• Salford
• Southend on Sea
• Stockport
• Warwickshire
• Wolverhampton

In addition, the government is outlining further action on the following roads schemes:
The government is confirming nearly £111 million funding for the M6 – Heysham Link Road. The scheme will complete the connection from the M6 at Junction 34 to the Morecambe Bypass, improving access to the Port of Heysham and the surrounding area for local people and businesses.
A new junction on the M55 near Bartle, Preston, will be built to support the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire city deal. This development will provide relief for the heavily congested M55 J1 at Broughton and improve access to the Warton enterprise zone. Estimated to cost between £25 to 30 million, this will also help to unlock delivery of the north west Preston strategic location for housing, which will see more than 4,000 homes built in the area.

The scope of the £64 million A1 Lobley Hill to Dunston improvement scheme, announced in the Autumn Statement 2012, will be extended (subject to consideration of the business case). Easing congestion on the A1 Western Bypass, the £20 million extension scheme will provide an additional lane in both directions between Lobley Hill and the Coal House junction at the southern end of the existing scheme and from Dunston to Metro Centre junction on the southbound carriageway, giving a total continuous 3 lane section of approximately 6.4 kilometres.

Improvements will be made to the M62 J19 near Rochdale, including the installation of new traffic lights, to facilitate a new link road between the M62 J19 and the A6045. Estimated to cost £1.5 million, this will help to unlock the planned employment, retail and residential growth in the South Heywood Economic Corridor, helping to create over 2,000 jobs. Construction is expected to start in summer 2015 and last for a 2 year period.

The DfT also announced today (13 December 2013) the following measures to improve rail services:
The railway line between Wigan (North Western Station) and Bolton (Lostock Junction) will be electrified, at an estimated cost of £37 million and targeted for completion by 2017. This will enable the conversion of the busy Wigan to Manchester Victoria services and Wigan to Manchester Airport services from older Pacer diesel trains to more modern and higher capacity electric trains.

A joint taskforce will explore where next for electrification in the North. The new taskforce will be made up of experts from Network Rail and the DfT and will involve train operators, local authorities including the Rail North consortium, the supply chain and local Members of Parliament. This group will provide the Transport Secretary with an interim report within 12 months setting out how schemes can be brought forward and their development accelerated.

As part of Network Rail’s ongoing work to identify the next generation of schemes that will be electrified as part of the government’s continued rail investment, the routes to be examined will include:

• Leeds – Harrogate – York
• Selby – Hull
• Sheffield – Leeds
• Sheffield – Doncaster
• East Coast Main Line – Middlesbrough
• Sheffield – Manchester
• Warrington– Chester
• Crewe – Chester