England West Yorkshire Mass Transit Gets Rolling James Billington, 21 July 202423 October 2024 On Monday 15th July, West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Babin announced Phase One of the West Yorkshire Transport Authority’s Mass Transit Scheme. Phase One would connect Leeds and Bradford with a new mass transit system, most likely a tram. The current proposals (Illustrated Below) include lines connecting Leeds University Hospital to… Continue Reading
Buisness Grand Union gets ORR permission from Stirling to London James Billington, 9 March 202423 October 2024 The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have given new open access operator Grand Union trains access to run services from London Euston north to Stirling in Scotland. Trains on this route are scheduled to start in June 2025 and will include intermediate stops at: Milton Keynes Central, Nuneaton, Crewe,… Continue Reading
Buisness CAF to supply 54 new trains for the Docklands Light Railway James Billington, 22 February 202423 October 2024 Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF (short for Construcciones y Auxilliar de Ferrocarriles) have been contracted out by Transport for London to supply 54 new trains which will replace the oldest fleet of trains in the Docklands. The order was originally for 33 trains, the same number of trains as the… Continue Reading
Bristol GWR Plans Bristol to Oxford Services James Billington, 21 February 2024 Great Western Railway (GWR) plans to run Bristol to Oxford services from the 14th of September 2024. The services will be the first direct trains connecting the two historic cities for over 20 years and will run 4 trains a day and with stops at Bath Spa, Chippenham and Swindon…. Continue Reading
Avanti West Coast West Midlands and Greater Manchester To Benefit From Pay-As-You-Go Smart Cards James Billington, 13 February 202413 February 2024 75 Stations in the West Midlands (Including 5 under construction) and 17 Stations in Greater Manchester are to be equipped with tap-in and tap-out payment options. These will “Best Fare” capping and is due to start in 2025. The scheme was announced on February 1st by Rail Minister Huw Merriman… Continue Reading
Alstom South Western’s Class 701 fleet finally enter service after four year delay James Billington, 13 January 202413 January 2024 South Western Railway’s Class 701 fleet of new Arterio have been almost 4 years late due to the pandemic apparent software issues. However though, they have finally entered service on the Tuesday 9th January, on a service from London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside, where it is scheduled to… Continue Reading
England Heuro plans Amsterdam to London high-speed services by 2028 James Billington, 7 January 2024 Dutch start-up Heuro, who describe themselves on their website as: “Europe’s next high-speed train operator”, plan to run high-speed rail services from Amsterdam to London by 2028. Heuro, just like National Express’ Evolyn is the latest entry in a series a companies spying an opportunity in Eurostar’s somewhat recent shortcomings…. Continue Reading
Cross-Country Cross-Country retires Class 43 HSTs James Billington, 22 October 202323 October 2023 Cross-country have retired all of their Class 43 HST units, which ran long-distance services like Plymouth to Edinburgh, Plymouth to Leeds and Plymouth to Glasgow Central. These trains entered service in 19 and have been popular across many TOCs since privatisation came into force when British Rail dissolved in 1994…. Continue Reading