International & UK Railway News.... Saturday 23rd November 2013

        National Railway Museum - The Heart of International Steam Locomotive Preservation.

Warley National 2013

at the NEC Birmingham

Saturday 23rd November 2013 (9.45am* - 6pm)

Sunday 24th November 2013 (9.45am* - 5pm)

*Advanced ticket holders 9.15am - Saturday and Sunday

Today was the first day of the two day 46th National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham..  and the 21st anniversary of the exhibition at the NEC.

Pride of place was taken by the LMS Patriot project... and a clear invitation to join the project and help bring the engine to completion by 2017.

Andrew Laws, on the LMS Patriot stand  explained some interesting facts about the build project....

 

 

Video following........ 

 

 

 

 

 

There is still one day to go to visit the show and enjoy the best in railway heritage preservation,

modelling, models, books, DVDs along with representatives from many societies and heritage railways and projects on hand... So, be there tomorrow!!

 

 

 

Mainline Steam ScheduleRailway Herald - Railtours

Listing offered in good faith. No guarantees offered or implied.
Please confirm runnings with operators.
Please observe Network Rail photographic guidelines.Thank you.

Thursday 28th November 2013

The Bath & Bristol Christmas Market (Railway Touring Company)

• 34067 Poole (pu) - Branksome (pu) - Bournemouth (pu) - Christchurch (pu) - Southampton (pu) - Eastleigh (pu) - Salisbury (pu) - Westbury - Bath Spa (sd) - Bristol Temple Meads (break/rev) & return

Saturday 30th November 2013

Christmas In The North Country (NENTA Traintours)

• WCRC Class 47 (Pair) North Walsham (pu) - Hoveton & Wroxham (pu) - Norwich (pu) - Diss (pu) - (Colchester by connecting service train) - Ipswich (pu) - Stowmarket (pu) - Bury St. Edmunds (pu) - (Cambridge & Wymondham by connecting service train) - Ely (pu) - March (pu) - Peterborough (pu) - York (sd) - Durham (sd) - Newcastle Central (break/rev) & return

The Festive Festival Express (Pathfinder Tours)

• DRS Class 37 Whitchurch (pu) - Shrewsbury (pu) - Craven Arms (pu) - Ludlow (pu) - Leominster (pu) - Hereford (pu) - Abergavenney (pu) - Cwmbran (pu) - Filton Abbey Wood (pu) - Salisbury (sd) - Portsmouth Harbour (break/rev) & return

Additional Tour Information

Pathfinder confirm that the traction for this train has been changed to DRS Class 37s, rather than the previously advertised DRS Class 47s.(Added 08:53 on Tuesday 29th October 2013)

The Christmas White Rose (Railway Touring Company)

• 60009 Cambridge (pu) - Ely (pu) - March (pu) - Peterborough (pu) - Grantham - Doncaster - York (break/rev) & return

 

The Christmas Cheshireman (Railway Touring Company)

• 70013 Bristol Temple Meads (pu) - Filton Abbey Woods (pu) - Cwmbran (pu) - Abergavenny (pu) - Hereford (pu) - Craven Arms - Shrewsbury - Gobowen - Ruabon - Wrexham - Chester (break/rev) & return

 

The Cathedrals Express (Steam Dreams)

• 70000 London Euston (pu) - Milton Keynes Central (pu) - Northampton (pu) - Lichfield Trent Valley (pu) - Chester (break/rev) & return

 

St. Nicholas Fayre In York 125 Special (UK Railtours)

• East Midlands Trains HST London St. Pancras (pu) - Luton Airport Parkway (pu) - Bedford (pu) - Kettering (pu) - Leicester - Loughborough - York (break/rev) & return

Network Rail Media Centre

National train performance for period 8 is 86.2%
Punctuality on the railways reached 86.2% during Period 8, according to monthly performance data released today by Network Rail. The data for Britain's train services covers the period from 13 October to 9 November 2013. This compares to 88.9% for the same period last year. The moving annual average is now at 90.5%

Train Operating Company	Punctuality % Period 8, 2013/14	Punctuality % Period 8, 2012/13	Moving annual average (MAA)
Arriva Trains Wales	92.5	92.5	93.9
c2c Rail	96.6	98.4	97.1
Chiltern	93.0	96.4	95.3
Crosscountry	83.0	86.9	87.1
East Coast	77.0	85.9	82.2
East Midlands Trains	88.8	93.0	91.2
First Capital Connect	82.2	87.9	87.0
First Great Western	84.0	87.4	88.6
First Scotrail	88.3	90.3	91.6
First Transpennine Express	88.4	91.2	90.3
Greater Anglia	88.6	90.8	92.1
London Midland	80.2	82.7	85.1
London Overground	93.4	97.3	96.2
Merseyrail	94.8	91.6	95.8
Northern Rail	87.9	87.0	90.8
Southeastern	81.7	88.3	90.5
Southern	80.4	83.7	87.6
South West Trains	85.3	90.4	91.1
Virgin Trains	85.1	83.2	83.7
Total	86.2	88.9	90.5

Notes:

• Delays attributable to Network Rail (this includes external factors such as fatalities, which made up around 20% of these delays) accounted for 60% of delays nationally during the period.
• For East Coast the major impacts on performance were all infrastructure related which accounted for 49% of delays, for which Network Rail apologises, with external factors (trespass, weather etc) accounting for a further 21%. East Coast caused just 18% of delays to its passengers during the period.
• 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.

Network Rail Transparency Challenge Panel's inaugural meeting

As part of its efforts to increase the transparency of its operations, Network Rail yesterday held the first meeting of its Transparency Challenge Panel. The panel, which will meet twice a year, includes members of the rail industry, other business leaders, experts in transparency and a journalist.

The proposed terms of reference of the group are:

• To challenge Network Rail’s transparency proposals and plans and its progress in delivering them
• To improve links between Network Rail’s transparency programme and related initiatives elsewhere
• To identify and share best practice in transparency and other areas to help the company improve its programme and take advantage of new opportunities
• To help the company identify and track key transparency benefits and success factors

Mark Farrow, Network Rail's head of transparency, said: "Being truly transparent isn't just about publishing information. We need to listen to other people’s views about the company and look at how we can help people better understand our business, what we do and why. The new panel comprises an enormous amount of expertise and I am convinced their input will help us improve our work in this important area."

Notes:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/transparency/

 

The Transparency Challenge Panel members are:

• David Higgins, chief executive, Network Rail
• David Sidebottom, Passenger Team Director, Passenger Focus
• Emma Thwaites, Communications Associate, Open Data Institute
• Heidi Mottram, CEO, Northumbrian Water and former MD Northern Rail
• Krisztina Katona, Open Data Implementation Manager, Cabinet Office
• Mark Farrow, head of transparency, Network Rail
• Nick Illsley, CEO of Transport Direct on behalf of the Department for Transport
• Oliver Morgans, Transparency Lead, Financial Conduct Authority
• Peter van Veen, Director of Business Integrity, Transparency International Ltd
• Richard Thomas CBE LLD, Former Information Commissioner
• Rory Sutherland, Executive Creative Director and Vice Chairman, Ogilvy One London
• Sim Harris, Managing Editor, Railnews
• Suzanne Wise, group general counsel, Network Rail

Over £220m invested in Scotland’s railway as Network Rail reveals half-year results

Network Rail today published its half-year results (for the period 1 April to 30 September 2013) which revealed that £2.74bn, some £15m per day, was invested in improving and building a bigger, better railway – 33% up on the same period last year and 53% higher than just four years ago.

In Scotland alone, £224m has been invested in a range of schemes delivering new platforms, new lifts, new information systems, new concourses, new bridges, new track and signalling and more electrification.

 

From the start of main construction work on the new £294m Borders Railway to the delivery of £10m of signalling enhancements at Stirling and the completion of the new £2.5m station footbridge at Perth, the first six months of the year has seen significant investment at locations across the county.

Patrick Butcher, group finance director, said: "The railway continues to experience tremendous growth and we are responding to that demand through the biggest sustained investment programme since Victorian times.

 

“With a million more trains and half a billion more passengers than 10 years ago our railways are all but full. We are squeezing all we can out of the existing network and new railway lines, such as HS2, must be built to deliver the step-change in capacity that Britain’s vital rail arteries need."

GB-wide over the past six months some significant investment milestones have been reached, including:

• New, bigger, better facilities have been delivered at King’s Cross as its £550m renovation and rebuilding nears completion providing a magnificent gateway to the north and sees a concourse three times the size of the old
• Opening of the new concourse at Reading station as part of the ongoing £850m project to unblock one of Britain's worst railway bottlenecks
• The start of work to connect towns of the Scottish Borders to Edinburgh with the building of 30 miles of new railway - the £300m Borders Railway project
• A more reliable and affordable railway for the people of Manchester, Liverpool and the North West as we continue with the £400m project to electrify railway in the region
• More reliable and faster services delivered with the successful completion of the £100m resignalling and modernisation of Nottingham and its approaches
• A major bottleneck on the East Coast Main Line has been removed with the completion of the £47m Hitchin flyover
• Faster journeys for passengers along the Midland Main Line connecting Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and other towns and cities to London as a result of a £70m improvement programme
• Completion of the £10m scheme to modernise the railway between Shrewsbury and Wrexham.

As well as these recent major milestones over 5,000 other projects have been completed over the last four and a half years (since the start of our current funding period called CP4 – 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2014). Significant investments in the Scottish network over the last four years include:

• The completion of the £300m Airdrie-Bathgate line in 2010
• The completion of our 10-year, £130m refurbishment of the Forth Bridge in 2011
• The £12m electrification of the Paisley Canal line in 2012
• The £120m renewal of Edinburgh Waverley’s glass roof in 2012.

Over the six months to 30 September:

• Revenue remained static at £3.267bn (£3.167bn for same period, 2012)
• Operating profit remained static at £1.199bn (£1.227bn last year)
• Profit after tax was £870m (£563m last year. Increase owing to tax treatment and derivative gains)
• Net debt stands at £30.611bn (slightly up from £30.358bn at year end)
• Value of railway assets increase to £47.933bn (up from £46.411bn at year end)

Mr Butcher concluded: “We continue to invest record amounts to deliver a bigger, better railway for passengers and businesses across Britain. We are also driving down the cost of running Britain’s railway to help make it more affordable in the years ahead. Train performance is still at high levels by historical standards, but has fallen behind our targets as we struggle to get more and more out of an ever overloaded network.”

                                                    Edinburgh Waverley



RFC 2 is an EEIG (European Economic Interest Grouping) composed of:

• four members: ProRail, Infrabel, Réseau ferré de France (RFF) and Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL)
• three partners: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB), Trasse Schweiz (TS) and Administration des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (ACF)

Rail Freight Corridor 2 is launched

 

Rail Freight Corridor 2 (Rotterdam/Anvers – Luxembourg - Basle/Lyon) started its operational activities on 10 November 2013.

This launch was jointly initiated by ProRail, Infrabel, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL), l’Administration des Chemins de Fer luxembourgeois (ACF), Réseau ferré de France (RFF), Chemins de Fer Fédéraux suisses (CFF) and Sillon Suisse, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 913/2010/UE concerning a European rail network for competitive freight.

Rail Freight Corridor 2: a major European rail freight route

 

Rail Freight Corridor 2 links by rail the main European ports (Rotterdam and Antwerp) to the industrial zones of Western Europe up to the gateways of Southern Europe (Switzerland, South of France, Spain and Italy).

This corridor is one of the main railway routes and one of the most promising rail corridor in Europe, with already more than 30 000 trains per year carrying more than 20 million tons on international relations.

The ambitious aim of Rail Freight Corridor 2 is to enable rail transport to be more efficient and win market shares to the road. It is mainly on medium and long distances that it can become more competitive in comparison to road. International transport is therefore the natural scope of rail freight.  

A service improved for railway undertaking with the implementation of a one-stop shop and the supply of international paths

 

Capacity allocation is one of the main tasks entrusted to the corridor. It will enable a better service for railway undertakings and the other authorized applicants. For example, to go from Rotterdam or Antwerp to Basel, they will only have a single contact point, the one-stop shop of the corridor.

Since 10 November 2013, the infrastructure managers and allocation bodies entrusted the one-stop shop with a first catalogue of international paths for ad-hoc trains paths of the 2014 timetable. These paths concern the routes Rotterdam-Antwerp-Metz-Basle and Rotterdam-Antwerp-Lille and are described in the website of the corridor www.rfc2.eu.

All applicant who wants to book this capacity, whether railway undertaking or not, can do it through the European IT tool Path Coordination System developed by RailNetEurope.

 

In January 2014, the corridor will publish a second international paths catalogue, richer, for the 2015 timetable.

Coordinated works made public

 Also in order to improve the quality of service for its customers, the corridor implemented a coordinated planning of works on its 3000 kilometers of lines. The list of works planned within the next twenty four months is from now on available on the website of the corridor www.rfc2.eu.

Transparency and cooperation with railway undertakings and terminals

 

On the occasion of its launch, Corridor 2 publishes its "Corridor information Document" which provides all necessary information on the corridor and mainly:

- a detailed description of the lines and terminals of the corridor;

- a presentation of the measures implemented on capacity allocation and traffic management coordination;

- an indicative presentation of all investments planned on the corridor within the next ten years;

- the main elements of a transport market study performed in 2012/2013.

The corridor works in close collaboration with the railway undertakings and terminals. To consult them regularly, the corridor set up two advisory groups which meet a few times a year.

 Shedmaster Railway News


Contact Railway Gazette International, Rail Business Intelligence and Metro Report International

World Heritage & Railway News

Friends on the fundraising trail | The UK's Only Main Line Heritage Railway

 

Leicester North museum update | The UK's Only Main Line Heritage Railway

 

Warley National 2013

at the NEC BirminghamSaturday 23rd November 2013 (9.45am* - 6pm)
Sunday 24th November 2013 (9.45am* - 5pm)
*Advanced ticket holders 9.15am - Saturday and Sunday



Railway Engineering News

 

 

BNSF - Careers