Railnews Magazine September 2019 Edizione posteriore

THE story of HS2 continues as the lead story in Railnews for September, after the prime minister ordered a formal review of the project amid revelations, as Railnews predicted in August, that the project will cost far more than originally predicted. There are also claims that the government has been concealing the truth since 2016.

In other news we report the launch of the Abellio franchise East Midlands Railway, the award of the West Coast Partnership to a consortium of FirstGroup and Trenitalia, and that an inquiry has been launched into the power cuts which left passengers and trains stranded on 9 August.

There was mixed news on the industrial front. Three strikes called on Merseyrail by the RMT in the long-running staffing dispute were called off, after a ‘positive meeting’ on 21 August, but a new four day walkout was staged on South Western Railway.

The first solar panels to provide power directly to a railway have been activated at Aldershot, while a disused line to the Levenmouth area of Fife is to be reopened at a cost of around £70 million. There will be stations at Leven and Cameron Bridge.

A Nottingham woman has been given a jail sentence for starting a major fire at Nottingham station at the start of 2018. The city’s Crown Court heard that she had 108 previous convictions.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash has resisted challengers by winning the union’s election. He will now be in charge at the RMT for another five years.

With the conclusions of the Williams Review now expected fairly soon, our feature tries to preduct what he is likely to say. We will have to wait a little longer to find out if we were anywhere near the mark.

There is plenty to see in Railnews for September.