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Railfuture have linked with Campaign for Better Transport to call for a Network Development Fund to pay for project development of realistic proposals for new and reopened stations and lines with the best projects joining a pool of national projects to be taken to full development and implementation.
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HS2 must be integrated with local transport networks, otherwise congestion, not economic growth, will be generated. However in Birmingham, the HS2 terminus at Curzon Street will be remote from local rail services, even though they run alongside. Phil Bennion, a past MEP for the West Midlands, has a solution. Image: Curzon Street station between existing rail line and new development area.
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10:10, the climate change charity, is working with the Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College, London, to develop a viable solution for solar-powered railways. The graphic by 10:10 Climate Action illustrates the principle. It is ironic that the artist has depicted a diesel unit but we like the picture so used it anyway.
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Railfuture has joined together with local people, rail planning experts and influential local business leaders to progress Wisbechrail through a new group they have set up called the Wisbech Consultative Group. This will harness peoples’ ideas about where the station should be, what facilities it should have and other issues to do with a new train service.
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This picture is the image chosen by Transport for the North to illustrate its Long Term Rail Strategy. Is it fantasy or reality?
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A UK rail employee survey to explore the relationship between self-reported fatigue levels and characteristics of influential risk factors of workload, sleep quality and daily life events.
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HS2 will create massive extra rail capacity, but unless it is integrated with local transport networks to create connectivity with city centres and their surrounding city regions, congestion not economic growth will result. Image: proposed colocation of HS2 platforms and existing city centre station at Leeds.
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A modern Trenord low platform double deck accessible train. The picture was taken at Come Ferro Nord station. Staffed with a waiting room, toilets and a really nice snack bar. Photos by Ian Brown CBE, Chair European Passenger Group.
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The government’s Strategic Vision for Rail, published on 29th November 2017, sets out a vision for our railways. The proposal to reopen lines closed by Beeching captured the attention of the press, but equally significant were the proposals for joint operation of train and track and changes to the franchising system. Photo: Apperley Bridge, which opened in 2015, is an example of a rail development which unlocked new housing in an area within commuting distance of Leeds.
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A revolutionary idea for a metro linking Swansea with its surrounding towns has been unveiled by Professor Mark Barry of Cardiff University. New lines and stations could make new rail services possible, supported by buses feeding in at stations like Llanelli and Gowerton.
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Hebden Bridge Station Café voted best in country. Railfuture Communications Director Chris Hyomes presents the award to Lisa and Antoinette, owners of The Coffee Station, Hebden Bridge.
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The Welsh Government is seeking visionary proposals for a South Wales Metro from bidders for the Wales and Borders rail franchise. The new operator is expected to also take responsibility for the infrastructure on the core Valley Lines, on which services may no longer use pure diesel traction. The map shows the integrated services for which the operator may take responsibility, which may be provided by rail, light rail or bus.
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Railfuture is pro-rail rather than being anti-road. However, many imagine what life might be like if roads did not dominate people’s lives as they currently do. Whilst on a business trip to Brussels, Jerry Alderson had a chance to experience what a world with far fewer cars would feel like and how the public might make use of their new freedom to walk, cycle and play in relative safety. All photos by the author. |
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Railfuture has long campaigned for much of Britain’s railway to be electrified, not as an end in itself but because of the benefits it can bring to passengers (and also freight users). Electrification fell out of favour in the early 1990s but came back around 2009 partly thanks to the lobbying of Railfuture’s distinguished Vice President Adrian Shooter. However, Network Rail’s inability to deliver the government’s challenging programme of electrification, not least because vital skills and experience including project management had been lost, is a major set-back. Electrifying the Gospel Oak to Barking line has been a Railfuture aspiration for a long time. Pictured above is a stanchion minus overhead wires at South Tottenham station on the GOBLIN line, where the electrification work overran. Photo by Jerry Alderson. |
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Ray King presents the Derbyshire Times report on a stunt by 10:10 and Campaign for Better Transport calling on the Transport Secretary to reverse his decision to cancel Midland Main Line electrification. Railfuture supports electrification but sees the way forward differently; our article Why electrify shows how this can be achieved.
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On 20 July 2017, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling shocked rail campaigners and stakeholders by announcing that planned electrification of the Midland Main Line north of Kettering, the Great Western Main Line west of Cardiff, and Oxenholme to Windermere is cancelled. Photo Network Rail.
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