Railnews – January 2019

RAILNEWS for January leads with the allegation by transport secretary Chris Grayling that union pay demands have contributed to higher fares, a claim that the RMT has described as ‘scandalous’.

The Christmas and New Year programme of Network Rail upgrades was completed on time on 2 January. 25,000 people worked a total of more than 380,000 hours. If performance is still not what it should be passengers on Northern will able to claim more often, because the Delay Repay window has been reduced to 15 minutes. Rail minister Andrew Jones said it was the ‘right thing to do’. Meanwhile, the government has extended the Virgin West Coast intercity franchise by another 12 months, taking the contract to March 2020. The Department for Transport gave no publicity to the decision.

The continuing delays and rising costs of Crossrail were revealed to have caused the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan ‘deep anger and disappointment’. Railnews has an update on the continuing debate over who knew that the opening of the central Elizabeth Line would be delayed until later this year – and when they knew it.

In other news, hundreds of older trains will soon be making their final journeys as the replacement rolling stock programmes pick up speed, the new 26-30 Railcard broke sales records and came close to breaking the website as well when it went on sale at midday on 2 January, while a foot crossing which Network Rail had wanted to close on safety grounds has been reprieved for now, after more than 1,600 people signed a petition.

Seven BTP officers and staff received New Year Honours from the Queen for distinguished service, outstanding influence on policing or for acts of great bravery. They included officers who played a vital role after the Manchester Arena blast in 2017