Incorrect fare data uploaded to c2c’s ticketing system caused some tickets to be mispriced between 00.01 on February 5 and 23.59 on February 9. Passengers who purchased a c2c ticket which unexpectedly increased in price are asked to contact the TOC’s customer relations team which will investigate and arrange a refund of double the difference. Oyster and Contactless fares and Travelcards purchased within the London Travelcard zone were not affected.
MP for Aldridge-Brownhills Wendy Morton was appointed as a Minister of State in the Department for Transport on February 8, having served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State since December.
Network Rail has awarded GE Energy Power Conversion UK a £1·6m+VAT contract for the second stage of Phase Balancer overhaul works at the Melton Rail Innovation & Development Centre. This includes a full asset condition survey, replacement of the thyristor control system, phase balancer system monitoring, a cooling plant upgrade and the production of earthing and bonding records.
Former RMT General Secretary Mick Cash and Emma Wasley, HR People Partner at Govia Thameslink Railway, have been appointed to the Railway Benefit Fund’s Board of Trustees. RBF said Wasley was its first board member to work for a Train Operating Company.
Following the launch of the competition to select a location for the future headquarters of Great British Railways, Councillor Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, said ‘rail is in the blood of so many people in Crewe and bringing the Great British Railways headquarters to the town will create huge opportunities for levelling up and creating skilled jobs that will build on the town’s proud rail heritage.’
Hull Trains is to restore its full timetable from February 14, and plans to double train lengths on Fridays and Saturdays, operating two five-car Class 802s in a 10-car formation. ‘We have closely monitored passenger sales and reservations ever since we took the difficult, but necessary, decision to temporarily reduce our timetable on December 27’, said Managing Director David Gibson. ’We are now in a position to bring back all services and can look forward to connecting even more customers across our route just in time for the February half-term.’
ScotRail expects to reintroduce its normal timetable on February 14, replacing the pared-down service introduced in early January to cope with mass staff absences due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus. Up to 450 ScotRail staff were absent at any one time during the peak of the wave.
With the introduction of Class 720 EMUs on services to Ely and King’s Lynn on February 7, Greater Anglia has now deployed Aventra trainsets across all electrified routes on its network. Some services are now being worked entirely by the new trains. Alstom is supplying 133 five-car sets to replace all of Anglia’s suburban trainsets, operating singly or coupled into 10-car formations.
The UK arm of international engineering consultancy Assystem is looking to recruit rail project planning and consents consultants, project and programme managers, cost auditors, ecologists, environmental consultants, quantity surveyors and town planners to support growth in the rail, energy, and infrastructure sectors.