Greater Anglia and c2c are seeking members for a newly-formed Accessibility Panel, which will meet four times a year and will be made up of people with both visible and non-visible disabilities. Membership is by application, and members will be paid. ‘Panel members’ recommendations will help us to continue to enhance accessibility on our trains and at our stations’, said c2c Customer Experience Manager Alex Whybro. ‘We’re committed to making our services inclusive and accessible for all customers.’
Lucy D’Orsi has been named as the next Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, succeeding Paul Crowther who is to retire in February. D’Orsi is currently the Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Specialist Operations, with responsibilities for Royalty & Specialist Protection, Parliamentary & Diplomatic Protection, Aviation Policing and Protective Security.
As part of a business transformation programme at smart ticketing specification organisation ITSO Ltd, Steve Holden has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, having been General Manager since April 2019. He replaces Executive Chairman Steve Wakeland, who becomes Non-Executive Chairman.
Network Rail has completed a £2·3m project to upgrade the mezzanine and ground floor toilets at London King’s Cross station. Work to improve accessibility includes corridors and removing partition walls, while the layout of the baby changing facilities has been changed to make them much easier to use. All soap dispensers, hand dryers and taps are now touch-free.
On December 9 Crossrail Ltd said it had begin System Integration Dynamic Testing, with the number of test trains in the cross-London tunnels at any one time increasing from the current four to eight. ‘This is an incredibly important milestone for Crossrail to reach and puts us firmly on the journey to unlocking Trial Running next year’, said CEO Mark Wild. ‘This milestone also marks the incorporation of our Romford control room colleagues into the testing process, another sign that we are moving ever closer to our final goal of an operational railway.’
In response to passenger demand and to create more space for social distancing, Hull Trains has increased the number of trains it is to run on December 19-24 and January 4-8. ‘We have a robust action plan to make it as easy as possible for people to travel safely with us during the Christmas and New Year period’, said Managing Director Louise Cheeseman. ‘As part of our resumption plan, we continuously monitor demand from passengers and we can quickly bring in new services when there is an appetite.’
Steve Featherstone, who was formerly Track Programme Director at Network Rail, has joined stuctural crack management and water ingress and synamic loading specialist Geobear as a Senior Advisor. ‘I believe that many solutions developed for general construction can be applied to fix some long standing railway issues’, said Featherstone.
Network Rail has restored the Grade II listed bench at Scarborough station, which is believed to be the longest in the world at 139 m. The £14 500 project saw NR employees replace all of the Victorian bench’s nuts and bolts, paint the cast iron supports and replace timbers in the seat and backrest with Accoya pine timber which is sustainably sourced and has a life span of 50 years.
Contractor QTS Group has recruited 70 employees since June, taking its team to nearly 500 including 56 employees in fully-funded apprenticeship schemes or further education. ‘It has been really positive to see an increased demand nationally for our services in what could have been a challenging time’, said Managing Director Alan McLeish. ‘We remain fully committed to the development of our young workforce which is essential for not only the growth and success of the company but the railway industry as a whole.’
