The Railway Magazine – August 2019

Colas Class 67s Nos.67027Charlotteand 67023Stella

approachAller Vale,west of NewtonAbbot,with

the 06.09 ReadingTriangle Sidings-Paigntontest

trai nonJuly 5.The‘67s’werestanding inforthe new

measurementtrain HST,which wasundergoing its

majorannual maintenanceduring July.DAVID HUNT

88 •TheRailway Magazine•August2019

‘Passengers first’ as Network

Rail’s regional structuregoeslive

JUNE24 signalled the startof

significantstruc tural changesat

Network Rail,designedto tackle

the declining performanceand

punctualityofpassenger and

freighttrains over recent years.

More powerisb eing devolved

into fivenew regions,with 14

smaller,regional organisations

aimedat being closerto customers

and giving local managers the

authoritytot ackle performance

issues in their area.

From ahighin2012, train

performancehas decl ined from

91.6% of trainsregarded as

arriving‘ontime’to86.3%today.

Thefivenew regions –Eastern,

NorthWest &Central,Scotland’s

Railway,Southern andWales and

Western–are now‘live’,while

the newroutes willcome into

operation laterint he summer.

Further devolution from the

centre to the routes andregions is

planned in the longerterm.

As well as theregional managing

direc tors announced in June

(see JulyRM), several other senior

appointments have been made as

partoft he reorganisation.

Former London NorthWestern

routemanaging director(MD)

Martin Frobis her becomes interim

group safety, technical and

engineering director, Nick King is

nowgroup directorfor Network

Services ,and Katie Frostretains her

role as MD of NR high speed.

In achange sincethe original

announcement, a14th‘route’has

been created.West Coast Mainline

South covers theWCML from

Crew etoL ondonEuston, and

has been implementedfollowing

feedback from customers.

Taking up his new post as North

West andCentra lregional MD,

TimShoveller set out his planto

rebuild passenger trust in the

railway.“Iamdetermined that

the railway should deliver on its

promises–somethingwe have

not alwaysdone in therecent

past,” he said.

“I wantto help rebuild trustby

getting the basics rightfor train

passengers:reliable services,

clean stations and clear,early

information.”

Southern Region managing

direc torJohn Halsall,who

previously servedasMDofboth

the South East andWessexroutes,

added:“Putting passengers first

and addressing the decline in

train performancehave to be our

priorities,and these changes will

help us deliver the better service

thatpassengers and freightusers

deserve.”

TheSouthernregion is the

busiest in thecountr y, with 700

million passenger journeysayear

andmorethan 7,000 passenger

andfreighttrainseveryweekda y.

Morefundingfor

access improvements

THE DepartmentforTransport

(DfT )has releasedafurther

£20millionforaccessibility

improvementsto stations

across thecountr y.

Thefund is designed

to enable smaller-scale

enhancements,such as

tactile paving,handrails

and‘Harrington Humps’

to maketravelling more

straightforward fo rpassengers

with disabilities.

Liverpool tunnel

repairsresume

PERMANENTrepairs have

begun onaretainingwall that

collapsed onto the railway

near Liverpool LimeStreet

causing major disruptiontwo

years ago.

Twohundredtonnes of

debris fell on to thetrack in

February2017after thewall

wasoverloaded withconcrete

and temporary buildings on

land above thecutting.

Interim repairsweremade

at the time,but nowfinal

structuralrepairs areunderway

and aredue to be completed

duringthe autumn.

Real-time information

in ruralScotland

RURALrailwaystations across

Scotland have been fittedwith

neweasy-t o-read customer

information screens(CIS), as

partofa£675,000 investment.

TheLED displayscreens

have been installedat36r ural

railway stations,meaning

ever ystatio ninScotland –

except DunrobinCastle–now

hasreal-time,visual, train

information.

Thescreensfeature

white-on-blacktext and

provide customers with

information on the next trains,

number of carriages,estimated

time of arrival,and info rmation

about servicealter ations and

engineeringwork.

Cheshire£1.5m

trackupgrades

TWOsections ofline in

Cheshireare beingrenewedat

acost of£1.5million.

Around1,000metres of

trackat BleedingWolf,near

Altrincham,will be repaired in

an £800,000 schemeto remove

a20mph speedrestriction,

while £700,000wasspent to

renew530moffreight-only

trackat Northwich in June.

Elderlyjointed railsand

wooden sleepers have been

replacedwithweldedrail and

concrete sleepers,allowing

heavier trains of upto 2,500

tonnesto use theline.

SIDELINES

Workso pwinsherit ageaward

WORKSOPstation in

Nottinghamshirehas wona

prestigious NationalRailway

HeritageAwardfollowing

a£1.1million investmentto

restor eand conserve parts of its

listed structures.

TheRailway HeritageTrust’s

Conservation Awardwas given

to the stationfollowingwork

carried outby Network Rail to

strengthen andrefurbish the

lattic efootbridge,re-glazeand

refurbish the platform canopies,

and to repaintthe station and

nearbysignalboxinLondon

North EasternRailway (LNER)

green and cream.

Improved lighting under the

canopieswasalso installed.

Thework wassupportedbya

£100,000grantfrom the trust.

Workso pstation afterits £1 .1mrestoration.ROBIN STEWARTSMITH

AT LEAST£245million will

be spent by Network Rail

to supportresearch and

development(R&D)ofnew

technologies between 2019

and 2024.

ProjectsincludeSpectrail,

alow-costsystemof

internet-co nnectedsensors

thatwill‘listen ’torail lines

and spotproblemssuch

as wheel flats,cable theft

and trespassat remote

locations before theycause

disruption; the development

of alternativemethods

forgauging thatcould

deliver savings on clearance,

steppingand intervention

work;and an artificial

intelligence-assisted lineside

inspection andmaintenance

planning system that will

help NR boostthe resilience

of infrastructuresand

reducemaintenancecosts.

NR also plansto further

improvesafet yfor staffand

reducecosts by automating

track inspections,surveys

and incidentresponse using

drones.

Innovate UK is helping

Network Rail to deliver R&D

schemesandbroaden the

range ofcompanies involved

in the rail industry.

No fewerthan 24proj ects

will receiveashareof

£7.8million inGovernment

funding viathe Department

forTransport’s Firstofa

Kind(FOAK)competition.

NR plansto invest

£245m alongside£112m

investmentfromthird

partiesforR&D during

ControlPeriod 6.

NR outlin es research and

development prioritiesfor CP6

Network TrackRecord

COMPILED BY

BEN

JONES

Call: 01507 529589

email: railway

@mortons.co.uk

Yo urreports and

pictures aremostwelcome.

Highlycompetitiverates

arepaid,especially if

exclusivetoTheRM.