Great Western Coffee Shop

Another month passes, and already long overdue announcements such as the Williams Review, Integrated Rail Plan and Northern Powerhouse Rail slip yet again, this time for the local elections in May. And an East West Rail (EWR) consultation running until June opens a Pandora’s box of options, even for the Western section that was supposed to be signed, sealed and being delivered. Will we ever see a UK railway network fit for the 21st century?

CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER TRANSPORT

The Telegraph reports that, after studying transport links in 225 deprived areas, CBT found that 88 of 175 stations in the areas with the poorest transport links have closed since 1960, with 23 areas losing two or more. They were predominantly on the coast, or the outskirts of towns and cities in the North and the Midlands. In these areas, 40% of households had no car compared with just 26% across England as a whole, while local authority supported bus services had declined 35% in the past six years. The latest Restoring Your Railway funding round had 85 bids. Successful bids will be announced this summer.

Lakes Line Rail User Group

Eversholt Rail proposed to convert five of its Class 331 EMUs into OHE/battery bimodes. But with a unit cost of about £2m and a charging point at Windermere, the total cost would approach the £16m originally estimated by NR for wiring the Lakes line. And any unreliability of such a small pool would cause cancellations, whilst the few qualified train crew would be a further constraint.

An alternative ‘South Lakes Vision’ by the Lakes Line and Furness Line CRPs proposes converting twelve of the units at a lower unit cost, installing overhead charging points at Barrow station, and overhead wiring on the Lakes Line. It ends “Battery electric trains do have the potential to be a key part of an innovative, transformational and cost effective investment strategy for achieving a modern green railway system in the South Lakes”.

Trained by Atkins, Wagtail UK and Natural England, Rocky and Arnie, the world’s first dogs proven to detect great crested newts, were deployed ahead of track maintenance in Hitchin. Neither dog found any trace of them, so the work could proceed as planned.