Railnews.co.uk

General

• Plans for 'brighter' Swansea are unveiled

  - NETWORK Rail has published plans to upgrade Swansea station. NR said it aimed to transform Swansea into ‘a bright, accessible, clean and secure station fit for the 21st century’. It is also promising minimal disruption for the 1.6 million passengers who use the station each year.

• Speculation grows about Birmingham High Speed hub

  - A new High Speed Rail hub serving Birmingham is in the news again, following reports that a new station is being considered on HS2 close to Birmingham International. The new station would also serve the National Exhibition Centre and the airport.

Business

• Eccles to replace Green on Network Rail board

  - Graham Eccles is due to replace Chris Green as a non-executive director at Network Rail in July. Mr Eccles, who has 45 years of experience in the railway industry, is one of two new appointments which will depend on the agreement of members at Network Rail's Annual General Meeting.

• Network Rail names new non-exec directors

  - Network Rail has announced the appointment of two new non-executive directors, Lawrie Haynes and Janis Kong. Lawrie Haynes is a successful chairman and chief executive, and Janis Kong has much experience of operating businesses where customer relationships have been critical.

Metro

• Underground and RMT clash over maintenance strikes

  - London Underground is criticising the RMT union for staging the first of 15 planned strikes of maintenance staff in a dispute over rosters. LU described the union's stance as ‘astonishing’, but the RMT accused LU of ‘treating staff like slabs of meat which can be pulled off the shelf when it suits managers’.

• Tensions rise between LUL and Tube Lines as Jubilee closures are cancelled

  - Tensions appear to be rising between PPP contractor Tube Lines and Transport for London, as London Underground is poised to explain an alleged discrepancy over upgrade costs for Underground lines. The situation is made more complex by the fact that the two sides are painting very different pictures about the reasons for shortening some Jubilee line closures this weekend.

Freight

• New American locos for Freightliner arrive in Britain

  - The first American GE PowerHaul locomotives for Freightliner have arrived at Newport in South Wales. The two are the first of an eventual fleet of 30 of Class 70s. Four more should leave the US within the next month, but further deliveries are not due until later in 2010. Freightliner said the performance of the first six will be carefully monitored in service, and the first two will be divided between the Heavyhaul and Intermodal divisions of Freightliner.

• Councillors throw out plans for giant freight interchange

  - PLANS for a giant rail freight depot to be built on the former Radlett Airfield site at Park Street, St Albans have been rejected by St Albans City and District Council for the second time.

International

• Proposed French tax ‘could cost Eurostar £5m’

  - A new proposed French rolling stock tax which could cost Eurostar £5 million or more is set to be challenged under European law. The French proposal would come into effect only a short time before international open access starts on 1 January.

• US enthusiasm for High Speed threatens to break the bank of Obama’s rail budget

  - While the UK government’s proposals for domestic High Speed lines won’t be known until the end of this year, dozens of projects have been put forward in the United States following President Obama’s planned investment of $8bn (£5bn) to stimulate rail projects. The only problem is that the total cost of the applications from various states is seven times the federal budget allocation.

Politics

• Adonis seeks cross-party consensus on High Speed rail

  - RAILNEWS EXCLUSIVE The Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has revealed that he's been holding informal discussions with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to improve the chances of a cross-party consensus on High Speed rail. Lord Adonis also told Railnews that he has no intention of serving under any other government if Labour loses the election next year.

• PM announces Channel Tunnel Link sale

  - The Prime Minister has said that the government is planning to sell the Channel Tunnel Rail Link -- now known as High Speed 1 -- to help raise £16bn for the Exchequer.

Trackback

• Trackback

  - Recall the years since 1963, in our growing series of annual snapshots.

• 1963

  - 1963 was a turning point for the railways in Britain. The British Railways Board took over from the British Transport Commission on 1 January, and the first edition of Railnews was published in July. But railways really hit the headlines on 27 March, when the Chairman, Dr Richard Beeching, published his report on The Reshaping of British Railways.