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Avanti will cut services to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool for 6 weeks in the summer (July 20-Aug 28), on weekdays. This amounts to one train lopped from the timetables each hour to each destination, leaving at least an hourly service (2tph for Birmingham/Manchester). Apparently no changes...

It's been a possibility for some time, but the debate on increased defence spending has now turned to where to find extra money to do this quicker. And it's no surprise that the HS2 budget is one of those that might be raided to fund extra defence spend. It's early days, but it must be a risk to...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/transpennine-route-upgrade-and-electrification-updates.88054/ I doubt Northern/TPE will want to stop a second train per hour at Greenfield (and/or Mossley). Most of the smaller stations on the already-electrified Chat Moss line...

The Telegraph is reporting that Trenitalia France intends to operate cross-border services from its Paris hub, including to London via the Channel Tunnel. It would base its trains at a new depot in Paris rather than London, thus avoiding the need to use Temple Mills depot. The intention is to...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/gtr-to-be-renamed.296642/#post-7607914 At some point, DfT/GBR will have to decide and announce GBR's regional/sector structure; TSGN might not survive that split, there being no NR "Thameslink" route to tag it to. It might end up...

I'm surprised not to see anything on this significant event before now. The new Koralmbahn (Graz-Klagenfurt) opened on 15 December after 27 years of construction. The new tunnel under the Koralm massif between Styria and Carinthia is 33km long, and the line reduces Graz-Klagenfurt journey time...

Railway Gazette is reporting that UP and NS are are in discussions about combining their businesses to form a coast to coast US railway. UP generally operates west of Chicago on ex-UP and ex-SP routes. NS generally operates east of Chicago with a north-south oriented network. The two railways...

Some announcements about rail were made in Rachel Reeves' spending review today. Items I noted were: - a 4-year settlement for TfL (content not known) - £3.5bn more for TRU (again, no details). Rachel said "a quarter of the Manchester-York route will be live this year". - £2.5bn extra for East...

Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport from 25 October 2022 to 5 July 2024, has been awarded a peerage in Rishi Sunak's resignation honours. His record as Transport Secretary was I think undistinguished, with strained industrial relations, HS2 and other cutbacks and no meaningful progress...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/transpennine-route-upgrade-and-electrification-updates.88054/ The reports all say this is "new money", but fail to describe what it is being spent on. There's a vague statement of restoring 6tph on the route (currently 5tph), but...

The contract for producing electricity from biomass fuel at Drax has been revised for the four years 2027-31. It will become a hot standby in that period, generating electricity when the grid needs it rather than continuously as base load, becoming mainly a winter generator. Fuel (wood pellets)...

Looks like you can now book Eurostar (tickets or passholder fares) up to Saturday September 6. However, it doesn't look like St Pancras-Amsterdam services run beyond Brussels at weekends. The Amsterdam through service is limited to Mon-Fri, with a change in Brussels required Sat/Sun, presumably...

I spent some time at the NRM today, and the pedestrian access from York station was truly miserable and third world. You are penned into a narrow zig-zag and uneven pedestrian route past muddy and noisy road work, and have to use what I think is the back/side entrance to the museum. Some major...

There's a piece today in the Guardian which says that Amazon is to start deliveries by train. The route quoted is Scotland to the Midlands via the "fully electric WCML". Does anyone know the details behind this? Is it dedicated Amazon container trains, like the ones for Tesco, or is it partial...

I see there are no Avanti trains to/from Liverpool today, with no services through Crewe because of resignalling there. There are replacement buses to/from from Stoke, serving Crewe/Liverpool/Chester/Preston, to pick up Manchester-Euston trains from there. LNR has a similar bus Liverpool South...

It seems the legislation guaranteeing funding for this national ticket in Germany was only approved today by the Bundestag. Funding of €3 billion, with half from federal funds and half from the states, will allow the ticket to be priced at €58 per month. With German elections in February...

There was a bit of a car crash interview this morning on R4 Today, with Transport SoS Heidi Alexander. This followed a report today that Manchester Victoria was the worst performer for cancellations, running at 10% for the period Jan-Nov 2024. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgnl7j1kglo...

Mark Wild, the new CEO of HS2 Ltd, has made some pointed remarks to the Public Accounts Committee of the Commons in a hearing today. Among them is a claim that HS2 started up the construction too early, and awarded contracts that left much risk with HS2 rather than the contractors. He said that...

Stena Ports, who operate Holyhead Port, has announced the port will remain closed to ferry traffic (Stena and Irish Ferries) until at least January 15. This follows damage to the berth at Terminal 3 during storm Darragh on December 6 and 7. The usual Holyhead-Dublin ferries are working on...

The Guardian/Observer is reporting that a White Paper to be published tomorrow (Mon 16th) will include the devolution of rail services to elected mayors in England. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/14/metro-mayors-rail-services-england-devolution-plans This is more of a Local...