News
SNP demands greater say over Scotland’s railways
By Pippa Vine
Scotland should have greater devolved powers over rail, says
Scottish cabinet secretary Alex Neil. Frustration that UK legislation constrains service provision, despite record Scottish government railway investment, prompted a warning letter from Neil, cabinet secretary for infrastructure and capital investment, to UK transport secretary Justine Greening. Neil called it ‘perverse’ and ‘verging on
the ridiculous’ that state-owned companies from outside Great Britain can operate rail services in Scotland, but not home-grown public bodies. ‘As the analysis of the various outcomes from our Rail 2014 consultation progresses, I am growing increasingly concerned and frustrated at the extent to which the legislative framework, currently in place for rail across Great Britain, constrains the options which we are able to consider,’ he wrote. Scottish ministers’ powers under
the Railways Act 2005 are limited by broader rail legislation, in particular the Railways Act 1993, which privatised the rail industry. So, despite providing most of the funding, they have minimal say in operation, management and regulation and can only contract rail passenger services through a private sector franchise.
C2C achieves record- breaking punctuality
By Peter Brown Passengers at Fenchurch Street station got a big surprise when their train was announced over the public address system by singer and television presenter Cheryl Baker. A member of vocal group Buck’s Fizz when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 and a former presenter of the BBC television programme Record Breakers, Baker was at the London station to help train operator C2C celebrate after its own record breaking performance. Public Performance Measure figures released on Thursday 5 July show that 97 per cent of trains run by C2C in the past year were on time, breaking all records for punctuality. Baker said: ‘I’ve always said that dedication is what you need to be a record breaker. Everyone at C2C can be proud of what they’ve achieved and I’m glad to see that all the effort they have put in has been rewarded with a new UK record.’
At the National Rail Conference in
Liverpool in July, Neil strengthened his case by arguing that with major improvements to Scotland’s rail network, not linking HS2 to Scotland and the north of England from the very beginning would ‘haunt the UK Government for generations to come’. Involve Scotland in high speed rail from the outset or ‘face the financial consequences’, he said. Neil also confirmed that Scotland will
host a UK-wide High Speed Rail Summit in Glasgow this October, as momentum builds around the Scottish government-led campaign for full connectivity. Plans for this event have won support
from CBI Scotland, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, trades unions and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, as well as London mayor Boris Johnson.
New sleeper factory to open
in Doncaster A new factory to be built in Doncaster will produce hundreds of thousands of concrete sleepers for Network Rail’s programme of track improvement works. Owned by Network Rail, the factory will be built and operated on the former Woodyard site near Ten Pound Walk in Doncaster by new consortium, Trackwork Moll. Doncaster Council agreed planning permission for the new building in June, a formal agreement between Network Rail and Trackwork Moll has been signed, and construction was due to start as Rail Professional went to press, with full production to begin in spring 2013.
Just two suppliers currently produce concrete sleepers in Britain – one of which has given notice of planned plant closure – so Network Rail decided to seek a build-and-supply contractor in 2009. Trackwork Moll won the tender and the scheme received board approval in spring of last year.
Cheryl Baker with C2C managing director Julian Drury
Director of Network Rail’s national delivery service, Martin Elwood, said: ‘This factory is crucial if we are to deliver better value for money whilst maintaining a safe, reliable railway. We need around 700,000 concrete sleepers each year and this factory will produce about 400,000 of those. It will also create around 30 new jobs, with knock-on benefits to the local supply chain.’ As well as protecting vital track programme supplies, this strategic Network Rail decision to site the factory in a central location – in sidings already used as an engineering train hub – will make UK distribution easier and more efficient, reducing costs by increasing competition and introducing more modern production methods, added Elwood.
AUGUST 2012 PAGE 5
Peter Brown
www.railimages.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44