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Freight Transport Association is 125 years’ old The Association was first established in 1889 as the Mansion House Association on Railway Rates (MHA) and has gone on to become one of the UK’s largest trade associations and the recognised face of the freight transport industry. More recently FTA has experienced several milestones including the opening of a Brussels office, the acquisition of Freight on Water, creation of the Member Advice Centre, providing the secretariat for the Global Shippers’ Forum, establishing Van Excellence and setting up FTA Ireland.
2013 a record breaking year for Eurostar Coinciding with the start of its twentieth year of operation, 2013 saw Eurostar carry, for the first time, 10 million passengers in a single year. This brings the total number of passengers who have travelled with Eurostar since operations began in 1994 to 140 million. New routes and destinations were introduced in 2013. As well as a new winter ski service to the Swiss Alps, the successful trial of Eurostar’s Route du Soleil service direct to Provence in the south of France led to the introduction of the route on a permanent basis from 2015.
App to make website speak Southern and Gatwick Express have launched a new application on the
southernrailway.com and
gatwickexpress.com websites to help those who are visually impaired and/ or dyslexic to access site content with greater ease. The Cloud-based system, called Recite, allows users to customise the site in a way that works best for them. The software includes text to speech functionality, dyslexia software, an interactive dictionary, a translation tool with up to 52 languages, colour and contrast settings and larger font.
Gerhard Ehringer, CEO SPL Powerlines Group, said: ‘It is predicted that the number of linesmen required for the future electrification will be ten times current levels, which means the industry cannot stand still when it comes to skills developments. The centres of excellence established by SPL Powerlines and Carillion Rail have increased the provision for the training of linesmen and we have in place training programmes that not only provide skills and qualifications, but also help to harbour ambition and pride in the trainees that will stay with them for the rest of their careers.’
Net-positive biodiversity scheme delivered for Network Rail
Streatham Common in south London late last year as part of a move to ensure that new natural sites are created or developed when the unavoidable loss of other sites occurs due to development elsewhere. The project, which is led by Network
E Page 14 February 2014
Rail’s Thameslink Programme in partnership with London Wildlife Trust and the London Borough of Lambeth, with support from Parsons Brinckerhoff, will see native species of trees, shrubs and other natural habitat planted at selected areas on Streatham Common, which is both a nature reserve and public park.
nvironment Secretary Owen Paterson launched a biodiversity offset project on
As a Defra demonstration project, the
scheme will contribute towards London Wildlife Trust’s aim to restore sections of the Great North Wood, a dense forest which once grew across a large part of south London. In addition to the use of Defra’s new metric for calculating biodiversity loss and the associated level of compensation needed, the project has been designed for the Thameslink Programme to have a net positive impact. Carlo Laurenzi OBE, chief executive
of London Wildlife Trust said: ‘Large development projects such as Thameslink inevitably lead to the loss of some natural habitat, but biodiversity offsetting ensures that nature doesn’t lose out.’
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