GWR announces new route for Class 175s
Class 175s will be running on a Cornish branch line from later this month. The units, built by Alstom some 25 years ago and cascaded to GWR from Transport for Wales, were already planned to be used on services on the Devon and Cornwall main line, and also on the branches to Barnstaple and Okehampton. But GWR has now announced that the units will be used for the first stage of Mid Cornwall Metro, which goes live on 17 May and will mean a doubling of frequencies to hourly between Newquay and Par.
The Government has rejected concerns voiced by the Commons Transport Committee in its report on skills in transport manufacturing. The Committee had warned that skills gaps are posing ‘significant challenges’.
David Statham is leading the new FirstGroup TfL concession for London Overground, which started on 3 May. He was most recently commercial director for First Rail, and before that was managing director of Govia’s Southeastern until it was renationalised in 2021.
The RMT has claimed that Network Rail’s ‘Modernising Maintenance’ programme and reductions in staffing were the real cause of major disruption at Manchester Piccadilly after 400m of overhead wires on the station throat had been damaged earlier this month. Services at Piccadilly had to be suspended after a wire had broken on the morning of 16 April, and did not return in full until 11.00 on the 19th, after engineers had worked day and night to repair the damage.
The government has refused to amend the Railways Bill to clarify the relative powers of the transport secretary and Great British Railways. The Commons Transport Committee had said that the proposed law should be changed to iron out ‘potential tension’ between the DfT and GBR.
Younger adults aged between 18 and 34 are putting themselves at risk when using level crossings, according to the results of a survey released by Network Rail today. Eight out of 10 of those who responded claimed to know what they are doing when they need to cross a line, but at the same time it appears that ignorance is bliss. Distraction is the greatest danger. This includes talking to companions (28 per cent), wearing headphones (26 per cent) and using a mobile (24 per cent).
Plans to reopen the former Midland Railway main line to Manchester have taken a step forward with the submission of the Peaks and Dales Line Feasibility Study to the Department for Transport.