Enjoy the latest news, in-depth features and much more, all from your favourite monthly modern railway magazine.
Avanti West Coast looks to recovery
The West Coast operator is optimistic passengers will return, as its MD PHIL WHITTINGHAM and Operations Director NICK WESTCOTT tell PHILIP SHERRATT
PHILIP SHERRATT
Trans-Pennine troubles
Our columnist says future plans for routes across the North of England are inadequate
ALAN WILLIAMS
Operators facing revenue-cost gap
■ Omicron reversed ridership revival
■ Treasury sustains revenue support
■ Costs continued to increase through 2020-21
Turbostar phone home
Buy a new train these days and you get more remote condition data than you can shake a memory stick at. Cross Country’s Turbostars are getting down (loaded) with the kids
Ian Walmsley
Trackwatch - March 2022 issue
A digest of the main changes on Network Rail, London Underground and Northern Ireland Railways infrastructure during December 2021
Martyn Brailsford
Chasing Will o’the WISP
■ Consultation on 30-year plan
■ Public competition for GBR HQ
■ Legislation lagging privatisation timescale
Alstom builds for the future
Alstom’s UK and Ireland Managing Director NICK CROSSFIELD talks to PHILIP SHERRATT about developments since the company’s acquisition of Bombardier
PHILIP SHERRATT
Lumo ‘803s’ leap into the lead
New entrant to New Train TIN-watch goes straight to the top
ROGER FORD
Keeping the Premier line up to scratch
West Coast South Route Director JAMES DEAN explains to JAMES ABBOTT how he envisages the landscape unfolding after Covid
James Abbott
Preparing the WCML for HS2
Major programmes at Euston, Crewe and elsewhere are getting under way, as DAVE PENNEY, Network Rail’s Passenger Director for the North West & Central Region, tells PHILIP SHERRATT and ANDY RODEN
PHILIP SHERRATT
Electrification deception
Discontinuous electrification is often suggested to reduce the cost of electrification – but only by people who know nothing about electrification
Ian Walmsley
800 Series – Hitachi’s remedial mods break cover
■ Substantial yaw damper arm mountings dwarf similar trains
■ Machined castings include bodyside stiffening
■ Alternative solutions reported on trial train
Chiltern Railways - where it all began
We present an extract from a new book from the mastermind behind the Chiltern Railways revitalisation, ADRIAN SHOOTER – with a money-off offer for readers
Trackwatch - February 2022 issue
A digest of the main changes on Network Rail, London Underground and Northern Ireland Railways infrastructure during November 2021; compiled by Martyn Brailsford of the Branch Line Society (www.branchline.uk).
Martyn Brailsford
Goodbye to the ‘Y’… for now?
The Integrated Rail Plan curtailed HS2’s eastern leg to Leeds at East Midlands Parkway. But as DAN HARVEY explains, it might not be the end of ambitions for the full high-speed network
Dan Harvey
New HS2 fleet - short on detail
■ Train weight and seating claims confused
■ UK gauge ETR1000 likely
■ Mystery pantograph highlighted
Operators face ongoing new train woes
■ Alstom: Class 701 joins record lateness club
■ CAF: trams suffer weld failures
■ Hitachi: low availability compounds cracking issues
■ Stadler: passenger’s favourite tries maintainers
Celebrating community achievement
Projects large and small featured at the annual Community Rail Awards in December
Vicki Pipe
Daydream believers
Does the emphasis on railway reform mean we may lose focus on short-term challenges?
Time to signal change
ALAN WILLIAMS challenges current disruptive and increasingly unaffordable methods of resignalling and suggests how lesser-used lines, and particularly single-track lines, might be cost-effectively signalled in the future
ALAN WILLIAMS
The safety dance
The creation of Great British Railways is the opportunity to simplify the organisations called into existence by fragmentation, not least in the safety industry
Ian Walmsley
Passenger traffic recovery - LNER shows the way
■ 20 points clear of next franchised long-distance TOC
■ ECML open access operators also recovered strongly
■ Greater freedom of action with OLR?
New fleet for the DART
TONY MILES describes the new Alstom fleet ordered for commuter services in Dublin
Tony Miles
Branch line revolution or one-day wonder?
Our columnist questions the longevity of the Restoring your Railway initiative
ALAN WILLIAMS
Curzon Street transforms Birmingham
High Speed 2’s station in central Birmingham is set to transform the city’s rail architecture while recognising its history. ANDY RODEN examines the plan for this major architectural statement on Britain’s new railway
Andy Roden
Commonwealth Ambition
MALCOLM HOLMES, Executive Director at West Midlands Rail Executive, and DENISE WETTON, Central Route Director at Network Rail, tell PHILIP SHERRATT how this summer’s Commonwealth Games will be a major milestone in the region’s post-Covid recovery
PHILIP SHERRATT
Table-toppers improving
Reliability growth in New Train TIN-watch is slow, but there are more graduates on the horizon
ROGER FORD
New Year, New Network
Following the resumption of regular services, what difference will the Dartmoor line make to the community in Okehampton?
Vicki Pipe