British Steel’s Rail Technologies and Research & Development teams have undertaken track monitoring activities in Northern Ireland after Translink detected exceptional rolling contact fatigue during a routine inspection. The rail profile had changed through natural wear, and train wheels were making contact in a different position which altered the stress distribution resulting in RCF cracking rather than wear.
Transport for London will no longer require face coverings as a condition of carriage on its services from February 24, but customers and staff will be ‘strongly recommended’ to wear them if they are able to. TfL said it had made the decision after considering ‘a variety of factors including the shift in the government’s approach towards living with the virus and decreasing infection rates in London’.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has published its interim report into the collision between South Western Railway and Great Western Railway passenger trains at Salisbury Tunnel Junction on October 31 2021. The investigation found that the railhead was contaminated with crushed leaf material; the most recent railhead treatment train had passed over the junction around 32 h before the collision.
Warwickshire County Council has awarded Egis Transport Solutions a £285 589 lead designer contract to identify and develop options for the proposed Rugby Parkway station, which would be located south of Rugby town centre on the Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line.
The UK is to move into the second and final phase of accession to the £8·4tr Comprehensive &Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade area. ‘The economic grouping of 11 nations is estimated to represent 13%-14% of global GDP, and is home to around 500 million people, making it a key market for UK rail businesses’, said Railway Industry Association Exports Director Neil Walker. ‘A successful UK CPTPP application will help rail supply businesses, including RIA members, navigate and succeed overseas.’
The fifth and final two-car Vivarail Class 484 EMU has been delivered to the Isle of Wight.
Network Rail and BAM Nuttall have completed a £1·9m project funded by the Department for Transport’s Access for All programme to provide a lift, ramp, and other improvements to give step free access at Eridge station in East Sussex. The work was designed to blend in with the heritage aspects of the 1868 station, which is shared with the Spa Valley steam railway. Similar works are planned at Crowborough later this year.
Gateshead-based Turbo Power Systems has begun work to produce electric converters for the 46 trains that Stadler is building for the Tyne & Wear Metro. This ‘brings to life Stadler’s pledge to invest in the northeast economy and use as many local suppliers as we can over the course of our 35-year contract’, said the rolling stock supplier’s Project Manager Adrian Wetter.
AECOM has been appointed to Network Rail’s £45m five year Commercial Services Framework for the North West & Central region, covering Lot 1 Procurement (Pre-Contract Management), Lot 2 Commercial (Post-Contract Management), Lot 3 Cost Audit & Assurance, Lot 4 Claims Management, Lot 5 Cost-Planning/Estimating, and Lot 6 Strategic Partnering. ‘Expanding our transportation business in the UK is an important strategic priority’, said Jennifer Aument, Chief Executive of AECOM’s Global Transportation business.
