Pay-As-You-Go with automatic daily and weekly capping is now available at 95 Transport for Wales stations in South Wales, including all the Valley Lines and on routes to Bridgend, Maesteg, the Vale of Glamorgan, Abergavenny and Chepstow. Conductors carry a card reader which validates if a passenger has tapped in at the start of their journey.
The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill passed the House of Lords on November 20, and now awaits Royal Assent.
Community Rail Partnerships, station adopters, local authorities and other organisations from across East Anglia came together to discuss how to further boost branch lines at Greater Anglia’s annual Community Rail Conference on November 15. ‘Community rail initiatives help to bring railways closer to the communities they serve, encouraging more people to take the train’, said Head of Corporate Affairs Jonathan Denby.
Crimestoppers has renewed its contract with Imabi, which provides the technology behind the British Transport Police’s Railway Guardian app. This allows people to anonymously report crime or inappropriate behaviour.
Spencer Group is now accredited to apply GCP’s Bridgemaster product, which creates a waterproof and skid resistant protective surface for structures such as bridges, viaducts, walkways, steps and ramps. This enables the Hull-based contractor to bring more services in-house.
Transport for London and London TravelWatch organised a joint summit to bring together a range of organisations to discuss ways to tackle issues of personal safety and security on the capital’s transport network. A key takeaway was that more people need to be encouraged to report hate crimes, and better support is needed for survivors of crime after the event, including signposting to specialist support services.
The Rail Safety & Standards Board is promoting the Driving for Better Business Driving for Work Policy Builder Toolkit, which helps organisations develop robust driving policies tailored to their specific risks. RSSB said in the past year, the rail industry experienced 67 road traffic collisions resulting in staff injuries, and a fatality in May 2024. Driver error continues to be a significant factor in work-related driving incidents, with speeding needing to be addressed.
The Advantage Travel Partnership which represents travel agents and travel management companies is to collaborate with the Rail Delivery Group on the political agenda around the future of the rail, addressing common challenges in the business travel sector, and educational events and social media to promote rail.
Network Rail has achieved its first Fair Tax Mark accreditation from the Fair Tax Foundation, demonstrating commitment to responsible tax conduct. It was assessed against the foundation’s Global Multinational Business Standard which contains criteria for transparency, an organisation’s tax policy, country-by-country reporting, tax notes disclosure and cash tax contributions.
Steve Warrener has been confirmed as Transport for Greater Manchester’s permanent Managing Director after taking the position on an interim basis in January. Matt Bull replaces him as Finance & Corporate Services Director and joins TfGM’s executive leadership team, having previously held the role of Deputy Finance Director.
Robert Ellams has joined Northern as Head of Property on a secondment from Network Rail, where he has spent 10 years managing the building infrastructure portfolio along the North and East Coast routes.
The Hearts for Herts charity has donated nine bleed control kits to Greater Anglia stations. Designed for use on any extreme bleeding likely to cause death within minutes if not treated, they contain a tourniquet to restrict blood flow, haemostatic gauze that helps stop bleeding rapidly, a trauma dressing, gloves and a chest seal. The kit is stored in a secure locked cabinet that already contains an automatic external defibrillator and is registered with East of England Ambulance Service control staff, who can quickly direct a 999 caller to the nearest kit by phone and give them the code.