Greater Anglia has opened the modernised platform 1 building at March station, which has been redeveloped to create an open-plan ticket hall and waiting area with accessible toilets, retail outlets and a bigger car park. The project was delivered through Fenland District Council’s Railway Station Masterplans project, with £9·5m of funding from Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.
Northern conductors and revenue protection staff can now check the status of over 600 self-service ticket machines via an app designed in partnership with Flowbird and RADD Solutions, enabling them to check whether passengers have a valid reason for not having bought a ticket before boarding. Following customer feedback, Northern has also introduced a ‘Quick Buy’ feature on its ticket vending machines, halving the number of steps required to purchase a ticket and showing the next train due with a countdown which helps customers determine if they have time to catch it.
BAM Nuttall has appointed its rail sector director Huw Jones as Transport Managing Director, combining continued oversight of the rail brief with additional responsibility for its growing Highways business. ‘During his tenure in rail, BAM has become Network Rail’s largest engineering partner by value, we have been awarded framework contracts across the UK and have successfully completed some major infrastructure schemes including Aberdeen – Inverness, Highland Main Line and Ordsall Chord, with more to follow this summer’, said Executive Director Ian Parish.
DMC Contracts has installed 200 Howe Green Series 7500 steel covers to provide access to under-floor services in the Elizabeth Line station at Farringdon. They are suitable for up to 5 tonne pneumatic tyre wheel loads, can withstand high passenger footfall, provide resistance to fire and smoke for up to 2 h and have an easy lift mechanism will ensure minimal disruption when engineers are accessing below-floor services.
Virgin Wines is to be the sole supplier of wine to GWR, in the operator’s first change of wine supplier in almost 20 years.
Transport for West Midlands is asking residents living near two future stations on the Camp Hill line to pick their preferred names. There is a choice between Hazelwell, Stirchley or Pineapple Road for one station, and between Moseley or Moseley Village for the other.
HS2 Ltd’s first completely diesel-free site is the Canterbury Road Vent Shaft site at South Kilburn in London, where civils contractor Skanska Costain Strabag JV is using an emission-free 160 tonne electric crawler crane, hydrogenated vegetable oil to power plant and machinery on site, an electric compressor and mains power on a 100% renewable energy tariff.
Community rail partnerships have been formed for the South Western Railway routes from Alton to Wanborough (including Ash Vale) and within the southern part of the London Borough of Kingston. This takes the number of CRPs and Station Adoption Groups to almost 100.
VolkerRail has been fined £550 000 after pleading guilty to an offence under the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 after an investigation and prosecution by ORR. This follows an incident in July 2014 when the wall of a 2 m deep trench outside Stafford railway station collapsed, burying a worker who suffered serious injuries. ORR found the company did not use temporary works such as trench supports despite evidence of unstable ground conditions, and did not adequately brief its construction team on how to complete tasks or act fully upon complaints.
RAIB makes two recommendations in its report into a runaway of a road-rail vehicle at Belle Isle Junction in north London on May 16 2021. One is that the company which designed and fitted the direct rail wheel braking system should revise its process for risk assessment, and the second is that the owner of the machine should to review its strategy for confirming the ongoing integrity of the direct rail wheel brake system. Two learning points reinforce the importance of sourcing the original design information when making changes to on-track plant, and ensuring that suitable facilities are available for in-service testing.
Network Rail has been fined £1·4m after pleading guilty to an offence under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 in relation to an incident when a worker suffering life-changing injuries when crushed between the conveyor of a 25 tonne Superboss ballast distributor and Kubota people carrier on September 19 2018. ORR found failings in Network Rail’s management of the worksite, including poor planning, failure to provide adequate supervision of the works, poor communication at all levels and failure to provide adequate information, instructions and training to safety critical staff.