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Previous Issues
June, 2011
May, 2011
April, 2011
March, 2011
July 2011
1) Our high speed rail future
2) 4,000 jobs to go in Network Rail signalling revolution
3) c2c lost property raises over £3,000 for charity
4) Direct rail services connecting London with Germany and Holland move a step forward
5) Government awards £5m grant towards new Stratford station
6) Amey secures Network Rail contracts worth £37m
7) Crossrail awards first central London main construction contract
8) Construction of Northfleet rail link will bring hundreds of jobs
9) The need for speed: Will the high-speed rail link ever reach Scotland?
10) ICE backs high-speed rail
Our high speed rail future
Will the HS2 high speed rail project, with its £32bn price tag, add up to a good deal for Britain's economy? That was the question I addressed in a Newsnight film last night. But here's another question - what was a technology correspondent doing reporting on a transport story? The answer is that many of the arguments for and against this project depend on how you see the future of our working lives, and what impact technological change may have on all of us over the next couple of decades. Will we be speeding from one end of Britain to the other in a couple of hours on Japanese-style bullet trains, our economy transformed by the productivity boost we get from not wasting so much time travelling?
4,000 jobs to go in Network Rail signalling revolution
NETWORK RAIL has unveiled plans to close nearly all the 800 signalling centres, panels and boxes which presently control the National Rail network, replacing them with 14 Rail Operating Centres and reducing the signalling workforce by two-thirds, to 2,000. The changeover will take more than two decades to complete and cost some £1.1 billion. However, it is expected that the annual savings will amount to at least £200 million by 2030, when 80 per cent of the project should be complete, and £250 million by the 2040s. Some ROCs will control an entire Network Rail route so that, for example, Didcot ROC will regulate the entire Great Western network in England, from Penzance to Bristol and Paddington, and as far north as the outskirts of Birmingham, where Saltley ROC would take over.
c2c lost property raises over £3,000 for charity
National Express train operator c2c has donated over £3,000 to the local Essex based charity ‘Down Syndrome Extra 21’. The fundraising was spearheaded by c2c’s lost property office manager June Carpenter, by holding auctions of old and unclaimed lost property. Through holding the auctions, c2c raised at first £1,900, then a further £1,218 at a subsequent auction. All of the items in the auction had been in the lost property office for more than 3 months and remained unclaimed. The auction included a wide range of items from laptops, cameras, mobile phones and computers games, to a children’s rocking horse. The most common items to be handed in to the lost property office are scarves, gloves and coats. Julian Drury Managing Director of c2c said: “As well as working to provide our customers in south Essex and east London with the best service possible, we are always seeking out new ways in which we can help the local community. June has been instrumental in ensuring that no old, unclaimed lost property goes to waste and has done much to help local charities through her efforts. We are pleased that ‘Down Syndrome Extra 21’ is the latest charity to benefit from her hard work.”
Direct rail services connecting London with Germany and Holland move a step forward
Deutsche Bahn’s aspiration to run direct rail services from London to Holland and Germany has made a huge leap forward following their application to the Intergovernmental Commission for fundemental approval to run trains through the Channel Tunnel. The German train operator hopes to be able to commence running London services in 2013 and it will be the first continental rail company to compete with Eurostar on the route. Both Frankfurt and Amsterdam will be within 4 hours reach of London and the speed and convenience of city centre to city centre rail travel should see a reduction in the number of short haul flights as people switch to rail. Transport secretary Philip Hammond said: ” This is an important step along the way to a truly European high speed rail network.” Once approval has been granted there will be extensive test running of the trains through the Channel Tunnel prior to the commencement of passenger services.
Government awards £5m grant towards new Stratford station
Warwickshire County Council is working to secure a £4m funding package following the awarding of a £5m Government grant towards a £9m project to construct a new park and ride station at Bishopton, a short distance from the present Stratford-upon-Avon town station. The money has been made available via the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund and Centro, the local transport authority, has agreed to fund extra services along the line. It is hoped that the new two platform station will open next April.
Amey secures Network Rail contracts worth £37m
Amey has secured Network Rail contracts worth £37 million to provide rail signalling services in five regions across the UK. Network Rail is making a major investment to increase capacity, reliability and safety on its rail tracks and has awarded Amey contracts for Yorkshire, Nottingham, Tameside, London and Devon. Amey’s Inter Urban managing director Steve Withers said: “Amey is winning a significant amount of rail signalling work because we provide fully integrated solutions which helps to generate efficiencies.
Crossrail awards first central London main construction contract
Crossrail today announced its intention to award the first of the main construction contracts for the new central London stations. Crossrail intends to award the contract for C405 Paddington station to: Costain Skanska JV. In line with European procurement rules the contract award is subject to a ten-day standstill period. The value of the contract is in the region of £250m. Intensive construction for Paddington Crossrail station will get underway later this year. Crossrail will significantly reduce journey times from Paddington to the West End, Docklands and south east London as well as providing improved access to Heathrow, west London and Berkshire. When Crossrail opens, Paddington will be just 9 minutes to Liverpool Street, 16 minutes to Canary Wharf and 27 minutes to Abbey Wood.
Construction of Northfleet rail link will bring hundreds of jobs
Construction of a rail terminus due to handle more than a million tonnes of clay and soil has begun, setting in motion a plan to create about 1,500 jobs on a former cement works site. Thames Gateway Minister Bob Neill visited last Wednesday to see heavy machinery begin work on a rail line and terminus at the former Blue Circle Cement Works, in Northfleet, with a link to Northfleet rail station. The line will allow debris thrown up by the multi-billion pound Crossrail project, due to begin early next year, to be transported from West London to the River Thames without clogging the road network. It is a pivotal part of the Thames Gateway regeneration project.
The need for speed: Will the high-speed rail link ever reach Scotland?
Some call the plan for a high-speed rail link a vanity project, others see it as vital for the economy. But will it ever reach Scotland, asks Kristy Dorsey DAVID Begg understands the concerns that have ignited a furore in the Home Counties, but the man who built his career on sustainable travel isn't about to give free run to local campaigners set on derailing Britain's next major high-speed train network. Villagers along the proposed route from Buckinghamshire to Staffordshire have waged a steady and at times bitter assault against the construction of the new line, which one think-tank has condemned as an over-priced government "vanity project". Earlier this month, protesters turned out in their hundreds in a march to Prime Minister David Cameron's country residence, where they unfurled a massive white elephant on a hill overlooking Chequers.
ICE backs high-speed rail
The delivery of a high-speed rail (HSR) network will free up capacity on the existing network and help regenerate and boost the economies of city-regions, benefitting the UK as a whole, according to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). ICE was responding to the consultation that closes this week on the proposed High Speed Two link between London and the West Midlands and the government’s wider strategy for high-speed rail. Chair of ICE’s HSR working group, Steven Hayter, said: “The opportunity should be taken to invest in growth by providing a new railway that is fit for the 21st century – significantly increasing capacity, strengthening connectivity between Britain’s city-regions and linking up with the Trans-European rail network. The time to invest is now, and we endorse the Government’s strategy.
