London King's Cross.(C) P.S. Lewis
Tomorrow week (Wednesday 14th January 2015) is the day Mark Carne and Robin Gisby appear before the House of Commons Transport Select Committee to answer MPs' questions over the overrunning engineering works over the Christmas/New Year period which resulted in a certain level of uncertainty! "Unacceptable"..according to the Transport Secretary..
So Network Rail's Press Release on the holiday upgrade projects will make interesting reading for those who appreciate the situation, notwithstanding the inconvenience caused to a good number of travellers....
The increased fares flack continues to fly...apparently you could fly to Australia more cheaply than getting a return railway ticket from Carlisle to London.....
And safety on platforms again brings up the news that a woman fell off the platform at Birmingham New Street in front of an arriving service...thankfully, minor injuries only sustained.....
GB Railfreight yesterday (5th January) ran its first train for Aggregates Industries (AI), the first train, part of a five year contract which trebles GBRf's work flows, according to John Smith, MD GBRf.
And in the USA, work is about to begin on the California High Speed Railway......
To check out the details..and more...click on the links....
Headlines
UK
Network Rail
Press Release
Network Rail completes £200m festive upgrade programme
Network Rail completed its huge £200m investment programme this morning as major projects at Reading and London Bridge were completed and services restored for this morning's commuters.
Over the past 12 days over 11,000 railway people have been working tirelessly to deliver some £200m worth of improvements at over 2,000 locations nationwide.
The company's investigation into engineering overruns at King's Cross and Paddington on 27 December continues and its initial findings will be made public within the next week.
Major projects completed during the programme include:
- London Bridge: As part of the £6.5bn Thameslink programme, London Bridge saw two new platforms opened and new track laid as the project moves to the next stage of the biggest station redevelopment that London has ever seen, which will transform the travel experience for the station’s 220,000 daily users. New signalling has successfully been installed on the New Cross Gate to Sydenham corridor and also in South London near Bermondsey allowing resumption of planned Southern and London Overground passenger services. Work to replace tracks at the entrance to the Hornsey Depot in North London has also been completed. This means that GoVia Thameslink can resume operation of their planned service on the Great Northern route
- Reading: One of the last pieces of the jigsaw to unblock the notorious train bottleneck around Reading station has been finished with the completion of a newly-built viaduct to the west of the station, leading to smoother, more reliable services
- West Coast Main Line: The latest phase of upgrade work at Watford, Norton Bridge and Stafford has completed. Work took place at Watford to replace and install new sections of railway and bring into use a new, modern, state-of-the-art signalling system meaning passengers will enjoy a more reliable and resilient service. A major bottleneck at Stafford and Norton Bridge has been unblocked, enabling faster, more frequent and reliable services for passengers; engineers carried out essential bridge and track work at Norton Bridge, and renewed the signals and overhead lines at Stafford, forming a key part of the overall £250m project
- East Coast Main Line: Between London King’s Cross and Peterborough more than 1000 people worked to complete 13 different projects to deliver significant improvements to the rail network at key points; Peterborough, Holloway, Harringay and Canal Tunnels just outside King’s Cross. Further north, projects included bridge improvements in Dewsbury and Newcastle and track improvements near York and on the Doncaster to Leeds line
- Midland Main Line: On the route serving St Pancras hundreds of people completed projects including signalling alterations for the Thameslink project; the demolition and partial reconstruction of two bridges for the Midland Main Line electrification project and track improvements between Kettering and Corby and at Toton
- Scotland: The Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Project team demolished the roof of CarmuirsTunnel, near Falkirk, and installed a new tunnel over the New Year break. Signalling was renewed between Haymarket and Inverkeithing and track work was undertaken in Queen Street Tunnel, Glasgow
- Anglia: Track renewals have been carried out between Stratford and Shenfield and upgrades to the overhead line equipment on the Great Eastern Main Line has been completed. Two bridges on the Gospel Oak to Barking line have been replaced. At Chadwell Heath work is underway on the eastern section of Crossrail
- Wales: A bridge was replaced over the River Teme on the line between Hereford and Shrewsbury. Bridge demolition work was also successfully completed on the South Wales Main Line between Newport and Cardiff as part of electrification works
Notes:
- Photographers were commissioned to capture the engineering work over the festive period andtheir images can be found in our newsroom
- Videos were also captured of the engineering work which can be viewed on our YouTube channel
- The army of engineers were fed materials by over 200 engineering trains hauling over 750 wagons
- Joined end-to-end the engineering trains in use over the Christmas investment programme would be 15 miles long
- The investment programme saw some:
- 55 kilometres of rail installed
- 120,000 tonnes of ballast used
- 28,000 railway sleepers replaced
Platforms 10,11 London Bridge first use. & Watford area re-signalling programme
Pictures courtesy: Network Rail.
The New Measurement Train - Network Rail engineering education
(Network Rail On YouTube..March 2012)
Our fleet of infrastructure monitoring vehicles inspect the network 24/7, in order to predict and prevent faults occurring. This film profiles the flagship New Measurement Train. A high-speed track inspector and test-bed for cutting edge technology, it's the most advanced train of its kind in the world.
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Western route study - draft for consultation
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Northampton railway station to open on 12 January.(BBC News)
Councillor calls for Borders railway halt at Heriot.(BBC News)
Edinburgh-Glasgow trains face summer of disruption.(The Scotsman)
Birmingham New Street traveller falls in front of train.(BBC News)
GB Railfreight
Press Release
(P.S Lewis)
GB Railfreight trebles aggregates work with Aggregate Industries contract
GB Railfreight yesterday (5th January) ran its first train for Aggregates Industries (AI), as part of a five-year deal to transport aggregates, such as sand and stone, from AI quarries to various depots and handling sites across the UK.
Locomotive 66714, identification 6M28, left Croft Quarry at 23:15 on Monday, 5th January, and arrived in Neasden Freight Terminal at 05:56 on Tuesday, 6th January.
The multi-millon pound contract involves GB Railfreight running five trains a day, five days a week, from Bardon Hill, Croft, Neath, Avonmouth, Shrewsbury and the Isle of Grain to the following locations:
GB Railfreight has invested over £50m in rolling stock, both locomotives and wagons, over the past year, and has significantly increased its operating efficiency through a host of technological innovations. This contract is testament to the operator’s desire to support the supply chain and promote the wider construction and building materials sector across the UK.
John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, said: “We have recently been looking at expanding our aggregates business across the UK, because we believe we have the team and fleet available to deliver optimum solutions in the area. This five-year contract with Aggregate Industries is a key milestone in this progression, trebling our workflows, and we are delighted to be working with such a prestigious name in supporting the construction sector.”
Simon Blake, Aggregate Industries General Manager, said: “We are pleased to have secured the services of GB Railfreight for the next five years. We rely on a reliable service and a committed team to support our rail distribution and GB Railfreight have shown they can provide both. We hope to harness their ambition and to grow our business alongside theirs with further traffic movements and services.”
Notes :
Locomotive 66714, identification 6M28, left Croft Quarry at 23:15 on Monday, 5th January, and arrived in Neasden Freight Terminal at 05:56 on Tuesday, 6th January.
The multi-millon pound contract involves GB Railfreight running five trains a day, five days a week, from Bardon Hill, Croft, Neath, Avonmouth, Shrewsbury and the Isle of Grain to the following locations:
- Colnbrook
- Harlow Mill
- Angerstein
- Neaden
- Purley
- Tinsley
- Theale
- Brentford
- Bow West
GB Railfreight has invested over £50m in rolling stock, both locomotives and wagons, over the past year, and has significantly increased its operating efficiency through a host of technological innovations. This contract is testament to the operator’s desire to support the supply chain and promote the wider construction and building materials sector across the UK.
John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, said: “We have recently been looking at expanding our aggregates business across the UK, because we believe we have the team and fleet available to deliver optimum solutions in the area. This five-year contract with Aggregate Industries is a key milestone in this progression, trebling our workflows, and we are delighted to be working with such a prestigious name in supporting the construction sector.”
Simon Blake, Aggregate Industries General Manager, said: “We are pleased to have secured the services of GB Railfreight for the next five years. We rely on a reliable service and a committed team to support our rail distribution and GB Railfreight have shown they can provide both. We hope to harness their ambition and to grow our business alongside theirs with further traffic movements and services.”
Notes :
- GB Railfreight is one of the UK's leading rail freight companies. It operates over 1,000 trains a week in the UK and is the main transporter of coal on the rail network and one of only two rail freight companies with regular contracts to move biomass. For further information about GB Railfreight please go to http://www.gbrailfreight.com/
welcome-first-gbrfhtml/p_1/.
GB Railfreight at Tonbridge.(P.S Lewis)
Tottenham Court Road station redevelopment for 2016 - virtual tour walk-through - Tube improvements(TfL on YouTube)
As part of Tube improvements we are upgrading Tottenham Court Road station the improvements will be completed in 2016.
Once completed you will benefit from:
• A new, larger ticket hall
• New entrances and a public plaza outside the Centre Point tower
• Additional escalators
• New access to the Northern and Central line platforms to reduce congestion
• New Art on the Underground installations
• New lifts to provide step-free access from street to platform
• Tactile strips on platforms and stairs
• Contrasting handrails to help visually impaired passengers
• New CCTV cameras
• Better lighting
To find out more about Tube improvements visit http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube-improvements and follow us on social media.
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International
Canada
Southern Railway of B.C. locks out unionized workers.(Business Vancouver)
China
Railway police crack over 5,700 cases in one month.(xinhuanet)
India
Pivotal Helps India Railways Keep On Moving (And Selling Tickets) Forbes
CBTC goes live in India with Hyderabad Metro test run. (SmartRail World)
A train operating with Communication-based Train Control (CBTC) ran last week in Hyderabad making it the first ever in India to use the system. Supplied by industry giant Thales, the train ran on the Hyderabad Metro line between Nagole and Mettugunda. CBTC, the radio communication based system which controls movement of trains through continuous two-way digital communication between trains and trackside equipment is used widely by metros around the world but this was the first time it became active in India. It offers the running of trains with a headway of 90 second frequency with very high reliability and offers built in redundancies to take care of any component failure. On successful completion of testing, the line will become fully operational in March 2015.
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Dublin to or from: -
Ennis, Limerick, or Cork, from €14.99
Galway, Mayo or Sligo from €14.99Kerry from €21.99and Dublin to Belfast from just €14.99 See irishrail.ie for more detailsBook today   Mexico Mexico To Reopen Bidding For Multibillion High-speed Train At Center Of Scandal (Forbes) Spain Spain set for new high-speed rail links in 2015 (The Local.es) Barcelona Metro’s new trams enter service.(eurotransport magazine) USA
US goes for 'wheels on steel' as high-speed rail option (Telegraph.co.uk)
Other Railway Press
MTR opens Phase II East Section of Beijing Metro Line 14
Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) has commissioned the 14.8km Phase II East Section of Beijing Metro Line 14 to serve commuters in the Chinese capital.
STIF and SNCF order Regio 2N double-deck trains from Bombardier
Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a contract to supply Regio 2N train sets to the Syndicat des Transports d'Ile-de-France (STIF) and SNCF.
PKP Cargo to acquire majority stake in rail freight operator AWT
Poland-based PKP Cargo has entered an agreement to acquire 80% interest in Advanced World Transport (AWT) for approximately €103.2m.
UK rail fares increase by 2.2%
The decision to increase rail fares in England and Wales has come into effect with 2.2% hike in the average fare of a rail ticket.
Video125co Heart of Wales Driver's eye view preview |
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