Railnews – August 2018

THE lead story in August’s Railnews reports the deepening crisis on Govia Thameslink Railway. The heated debate over the future of the franchise reached a new intensity as demands grew for action to be taken before Parliament’s summer recess, while transport secretary Chris Grayling also came under fire. Meanwhile, the Office of Rail and Road said it had found ‘systemic failings in Network Rail’s management of timetable changes, and in a separate report that South Western Railway disruption was caused in part by poor communication with Network Rail.

SWR is also being affected by more industrial unrest, with a new series of RMT strikes starting on 26 July. The possibility of further disruption was still making the news elsewhere. A blockade on the southern end of the Brighton Main Line for nine days in October to allow major engineering works has been postponed until the New Year.

In other franchise news, proposals to split the GW franchise into more than one contract were rejected by the transport secretary.

In the financial world, the proposed award of a Transport for London contract to Siemens to build 94 trains for the Piccadilly Line was challenged by two losing bidders, and the award is therefore on hold for now.

Each journey made on the Gunnislake branch line in Devon and Cornwall is worth £69 to the local economy, according to a new report. The line has been considered for closure more than once in the past.

This month’s feature looks at the future of stations, and how their importance as shop windows for the railway is being recognised once again, while Network Rail believes it has found Britain’s longest serving railwayman, at London Waterloo. Don Buckley started in 1953, when he was just 14.

Find out more in Railnews for August.