London Luton Airport is to get a new railway station so that trains can run directly to the terminal.
A 1.4-mile (2.2km) rail line will be built to the existing Luton Airport Parkway station, replacing the current bus shuttle service.
The £200m plans have been approved by Luton Borough Council and the station is due to open by the end of 2020.
It is hoped that passengers will be able to travel between the airport and London in under half an hour.
Current journeys from London to the parkway station take at least 20 minutes with passengers then having to wait for a shuttle bus which takes at least a further ten minutes, traffic permitting.

Trains on the new line will be automated and run 24 hours a day
It is part of a major redevelopment of the airport which also includes improvements to surrounding roads and layout of the terminal.
London Luton is the fifth-busiest airport in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), handling 14.6m passengers last year, and the airport is predicting that will increase to 18m by 2020.
Labour Cllr Dave Taylor, chair of planning at Luton Borough Council, said: "It's an exciting development which will enhance the passenger experience at Luton.
"It was approved by all three parties on the council, unanimously, because the airport is a success story for the town and this improves the accessibility to it."

*the franchise applicant, South Eastern Railways Ltd, is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Abellio Transport Group Ltd
if awarded the franchise it would become a subsidiary of South Eastern Holdings Ltd, a joint venture between Abellio and the consortium of *East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui & Co Ltd
*London and South East Passenger Rail Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Govia Ltd
*Stagecoach South Eastern Trains Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group plc
*Trenitalia UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Ltd, wholly owned by Trenitalia SpA

*First Trenitalia West Coast Ltd, a joint venture between First Rail Holdings Ltd and Trenitalia SpA
*MTR West Coast Partnership Ltd, a joint venture between MTR Corporation (UK^▸ (United Kingdom)) Ltd and Guangshen Railway Company, with the following key sub-contractors:
   Deloitte MCS Ltd
   Panasonic Systems Europe
   Snowfall AB
   Trainline.com Ltd
   WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff
*West Coast Partnership Ltd a joint venture between Stagecoach Group plc, Virgin Holdings Ltd and SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) C3

Happens every day (except Sundays, I think) throughout the year. But I agree that there are more services this weekend than for the Glastonbury weekend last year.

Just to sum up how awful yesterday was:

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) evening peak PPM^‡(resolve) was just 1.6%
High Speed Services evening peak PPM was 3.8%
London/Thames Valley evening peak PPM was 0%
West evening PPM did better at 12.5%

A shocker of a day with just one train arriving into Paddington making PPM!

I see it's been announced this morning that Bombardier has won the order for 750 new vehicles. Great news for Derby.

FirstGroup and MTR order £895m new trains for South Western rail franchise

20 Jun 2017

FirsrGroup Bombardier South WesternMuch needed extra seats for suburban rail services into London Waterloo moved a step closer today as new South Western franchise operators FirstGroup and MTR signed an order for 90 new trains (750 new carriages, in five and 10 car formations).
 
The £895m fleet of “AVENTRA” trains, providing a 46% increase in peak capacity on the suburban routes into Waterloo, will be manufactured by Bombardier Transportation in Derby. The new trains will enhance the travelling experience for customers with free reliable Wi-Fi, at-seat charging points, real time information screens, air conditioning, wide gangways and wide doors to improve ease of boarding and alighting. The new trains will start to come into service from mid 2019 and will all be in place by December 2020.
 
The new trains will operate on the Windsor, Reading and West London suburban routes. The fleet will be maintained at Wimbledon depot, with South Western franchise employees undertaking the maintenance, supported by Bombardier employees who will supply technical advice and spares.
 
FirstGroup and MTR included the plans for these new trains as part of their winning bid for the South Western rail network, with the new franchise due to start on 20 August this year. They will be capable of 100mph, be highly energy efficient and will contribute to reduced journey times.
 
Funding for the trains has been led by sponsor Rock Rail and partners SL Capital (part of Standard Life Investments) and GLIL Infrastructure LLP, who all provided the equity investment. The senior debt is provided by a consortium of UK^▸ (United Kingdom), European and North American institutional investors.  The trains will be leased to the new South Western rail franchise.
 
Transport Minister Paul Maynard said: “We are delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century and this franchise will provide more frequent trains, faster journeys and a more reliable service that passengers across the South Western network expect.
 
“This multi-million pound investment in a new fleet of British-built trains is excellent news for South Western passengers and the British economy. This investment reflects our commitment, and that of train operators, to put passengers at the heart of everything we do, and will improve journeys and target congestion.”
 
Steve Montgomery, Managing Director, First Rail said: "We have exciting plans for the South Western rail franchise and these new trains are an important step on the way to delivering an improved journey experience for our passengers.  We know from listening to passengers and stakeholders that alongside improved performance, what they want to see is additional seats and we will deliver this via these state-of-the-art trains."
 
Jeremy Long, CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer), European Business at MTR, said: “We look forward to working together with FirstGroup to introduce this new fleet of trains.”
 
Richard Hunter, UK Managing Director, Bombardier Transportation, said “We are thrilled to have won this important contract.  It demonstrates further confidence placed in this market leading rolling stock, designed and built in Britain.  This order is a fantastic endorsement of our skilled workforce and the quality of the products we design, engineer and manufacture here in the UK.  It will ensure a stable, long-term workload for our staff in Derby. AVENTRA offers enhanced performance and increased passenger capacity, which will play an important part in helping FirstGroup and MTR satisfy continued levels of passenger growth on the South Western network.”
 
Mark Swindell, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Rail said: “Rock Rail are delighted to be funding and leasing these trains which will bring a step change to the travelling experience for so many commuters. Our funders are leading pension and insurance institutions from both the UK and overseas who are directly investing in the UK’s long term economic infrastructure, on a basis that delivers significant cost savings and value for money enhancement for UK operators. We look forward to working closely with FirstGroup and MTR and all our partners to bring these trains into service.”

If the new platform 1 is used for the terminators from the south, instead of platform 4, that would remove the conflicts. Whether it will be used that way is another matter.

A word of warning for those who may be relying on it for information, OTT^▸ (Open Train Times website) appears to be suffering from the heat as well as it seems to be lagging by over 5 minutes on the actual position of trains.

We are interpreting this extract differently, others can come to their own conclusions.  The fact is that permissive working carries risks which can be avoided if fixed signals are provided, and providing fixed signals at new build stage is relatively easy. 

NB the Sprinter/High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)) collision at Plymouth last year, the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) Report on which was published in February.

The new fleet harnesses Hitachi's pioneering Japanese bullet train technology, known for its quality and reliability. Passengers are told to expect more seats, better on-board facilities and shorter journey times.