Railnews Magazine

The budget included a number of railway improvements, but the £30 million allocated to Wales for a new station at Cardiff Parkway has angered the Welsh Government, which is calling for support for its railways worth £14 billion. Deputy minister for transport Mark Hooper said the £30 million was ‘an insult to the people of Wales’.

The weather turned angry in October as well, when two storms swept in from the Atlantic in quick succession. Storms Austen and Boelo brought high winds and torrential rain, and train services were disrupted in many parts of western Britain.

A derailment in east London has caused more disruption. A container train came to grief at Barking, damaging 1.2km of track, and services have been suspended at Dagenham Dock, Rainham and Purfleet until further notice while engineers carry out repairs.

The new station at Beaulieu Park in Chelmsford has attracted twice as many passengers as expected in its first year. Over 800,000 passengers have been recorded since the station opened on 26 October 2025, although the initial first-year projections were between 290,000 and 390,000. The reopened Northumberland Line has also proved popular. Passengers have made more than 2,000,000 journeys less than two years after it opened.

CrossCountry will lease eight more Class 221 Voyagers from early next year. Six of the units have been cascaded from Avanti West Coast, and two have been released by Grand Central.

There were several important developments at Great British Railways. Sir John Kingman was named as the new chair, while LNER managing director David Horne is the first occupant of a new post, integrated chief customer and commercial officer. GBR’s future headquarters address in Derby has also been decided.

The Railnews feature asks what difference GBR will make – and how soon?

Railnews for November is out now.