Direct Eurostar services between Amsterdam and London are to be suspended for around six months from June 2024 as part of work to renovate Amsterdam Centraal station. Following intense negotiations between the operator, the Dutch government and infrastructure manager ProRail, the planned hiatus has been cut from around a year. Eurostar Group CEO Gwendoline Cazenave said the operator had ‘always aimed to find a solution that would have the least possible impact on customers, the environment and its business. We acknowledge that a final decision has been made. We are pleased that the discussions have shortened the gap in services and we continue to work on reducing the inconvenience for passengers, local residents and the economy of Amsterdam.’ Passengers from the Netherlands to London will need to undertake border and security checks in Brussels, but services towards Amsterdam will not be affected.
Trenitalia-owned c2c is revising its fare structure from December 3. Under the changes, all single tickets will be priced at half the equivalent return. Peak fares will apply between 16.00 and19.00 on weekdays on services leaving from or going via a station within the six TfL zones. Super-Off-Peak tickets are being withdrawn, with all weekend and bank holiday travel classified Off-Peak. The Essex Thameside operator said it was one of five train companies working with the government to extend the current contactless pay as you go area. ‘The introduction of c2c’s new ticketing model will align fares and associated travel conditions with the easy-to-understand TfL and wider pay as you go networks’, it explained.
Rail Partners held an Open Access Summit in London on November 27 to discuss the potential for developing such services across the British network. The event was attended by Rail Minister Huw Merriman, representatives from the Department for Transport and the Treasury, Network Rail, the Office of Rail & Road, private sector open access operators, ROSCOs and retailers, as well as owning groups including Arriva Group, FirstGroup, Mitsui, MTR, Trenitalia and Transport UK Group. ‘Open access services have the potential to deliver really tangible benefits for passengers and communities across the UK’, said Rail Partners Chief Executive Andy Bagnall. ‘Currently, the system is not set up to fully unlock that potential or attract new entrants into the market. We’re optimistic that we will see measures to support open access in the near future.’
East Midlands Railway and Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust have undertaken a joint training initiative to provide Community First Responder training to staff working at Sheffield station. This focused on skills to provide vital care, comfort and reassurance to anyone suffering a medical emergency before an ambulance arrives.
Unipart Rail has appointed Ford & Stanley as its exclusive recruitment partner under a three-year contract. Ford & Stanley will be responsible for permanent and contract recruitment services spanning white collar and executive search across all business disciplines. ‘We wanted to move away from transactional recruitment with several suppliers to a long-term collaborative partnership and were looking for a recruitment partner with a strong track record of delivering successful recruitment partnerships, who understands and operates within our varied areas of expertise, and whose values are aligned with our own’, said Wanda Elliott, HR Director at Unipart Rail.
Northern Trains has appointed Garry Bartie as TrainCare Centre Manager at its Allerton depot in Liverpool. Having worked for Northern between 2011 and 2022, he rejoins the operator from CAF.