Over thirty years of Railfuture campaigning has culminated in success with the award of £794m by the government to construct and reopen East West Rail between Oxford and Bletchley, and to rapidly progress the plan to reopen the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Ashington. Clearance work on the mothballed section west of Swanbourne. Image by East West Rail/Phil Marsh.

Railfuture Policy Director Ian Brown explains the background to HS2 and our stance on the current Phases 1 and 2a and the ongoing consultation on integration with Northern Powerhouse Rail between Manchester and Leeds. Proposed Euston station. The original HS2 plan was to rebuild Euston station completely incorporating a major development. This was cut down following the Oakervee review into a more modest, but attractive facility for the 6 HS2 platforms at the west side of the station when the government was dithering about stopping at Old Oak Common on grounds of cost. Railfuture considers the London city centre station as essential but the focus must now be on improving passenger walkways to the Underground and to St Pancras (Thameslink). Image HS2 Ltd.

Thirteen programmes, with an emphasis on electrification, which Network Rail would progress urgently as part of the Project Speed initiative announced by the Prime Minister on 30 June 2020, have been revealed in the specialist rail media. Midland Main Line Upgrade. Image by Network Rail.

We have made a representation to HM Treasury’s Autumn 2020 Comprehensive Spending Review consultation. In it, we emphasised the importance of the Railway to reducing carbon use (as it can be an efficient consumer of carbon) and to moving people and freight efficiently to help deliver economic growth, including ‘levelling up’. Image from Birmingham University

A briefing by Ian Brown, Railfuture Policy Director, on the Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMAs) with the train operators announced by the Department for Transport on 21 September 2020. Rail services are essential to connect people to work, education and a social life. Photo of Liverpool Street station by Rail Delivery Group.

Twelve awards have been made so far from the Restoring Your Railway fund. Railfuture has identified a further 30 submissions which have the potential to deliver worthwhile benefits. If implemented, these 42 proposals would together reconnect over one million people to work, education and a social life via the rail network. The Chronicle Live reported a petition to bring the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington. Photo of Tyne and Wear metro train at Ilford Road station by Klausness, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of our Directors, Ian Brown, took out a camera to see if people were returning to rail for off peak shopping and leisure travel in East London on Wednesday 26 August. This is what he saw. Photo by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street under creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ via Flickr. All other photos by Ian Brown for Railfuture.

On 28 July 2020 South Western Railway ran a special 'fact-finding' train to Fawley to mark the successful submission to the Department for Transport’s ‘Restoring your Railway Fund’ by Hampshire County Council, and approval by the New Forest National Park of the plan for up to 5000 new homes at Fawley. Left to right, SWR managing director Mark Hopwood, Network Rail chairman Peter Hendy and Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris ready to board the train at Southampton. Image by South Western Railway.

Reducing the cost of operating rail services and meeting the government's zero carbon objectives for transport require a sustainable electrification programme for Britain’s railways using a mix of technologies including overhead wiring, third rail, battery and hydrogen. Tyne and Wear Metro battery electric locomotive BL1 at Gosforth Depot. Photo by Twiceuponatime, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Better value fares, new ticketing options and aggressive marketing initiatives are needed to attract passengers back to rail after COVID-19. South Western Railway passenger won £5,500 in Touch Smartcard prize draw. Image by South Western Railway.

Jane Ann Liston, Secretary, Railfuture Scotland explains why we must attract people back to rail after COVID-19. ScotRail covers train faces to encourage passengers to do the same. Photo by Phil Richards from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Flight Free UK is passionate about low carbon travel. Flying less (and using the train instead) is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Could you pledge to be flight free in 2020?
Anna Hughes is Director of Flight Free UK.

Have our railways suffered another collective nervous breakdown with such strong messages so openly discouraging sustainable travel - by train? Since the DfT is funding all the franchises, has it lost all faith in its own services? The messaging is negative and inconsistent, even contradictory, not conditional encouragement – in sharp contrast to all other modes. Passengers may feel unwelcome or unsafe, and may be unable to travel. The comparison with air travel is stark.

The country may be in dire straits at the moment, but fortunately the government is pressing ahead with its Restoring Your Railway initiative by announcing the ten successful bids in the first round of the Ideas Fund on 23 May 2020. A common factor of the successful bids, if delivered, is that they will connect significant numbers of people to the rail network. Ilkeston Station was successfully reopened in 2017 – after 40 years of Ilkeston being the largest town in England without any train service. Image supplied by Ilkeston Advertiser.

The Castlefield Corridor – a great opportunity for freight, and a way to enable reliable passenger services across Manchester. A Trafford Park to Southampton Western Docks freight train approaches Platform 13 at Manchester Piccadilly. To the left is the rear of a train to Trafford Park from London Gateway. Without these two trains, four more passenger trains could cross Manchester every hour. Photo by Phil Smart for Railfuture.

Railfuture’s European Passenger Group is structured to understand international best practice and use it to advance our argument that railway development can help address economic, social and environmental concerns and opportunities in Britain. Light rail is a case in point where Britain has not exactly been a world leader. A Tram Train about to leave Sheffield Cathedral Station (left) for Meadowhall on the Supertram network then onto Network Rail tracks to Rotherham (the only example in Britain so far) and Britain’s first modern light rail line, Metrolink to Bury from Manchester (right). Photos by Ian Brown for Railfuture.

Go and Compare: Eurostar 25 years on, a Tale of Two Cities with new Rail/Air links, and how rail connections for foreign travel can help the environment. The British Royal Eurostar meets the French Presidential Eurostar nose to nose for the opening ceremony at Calais on 6th May 1994. Ours got there first! All photos by Ian Brown for Railfuture.

A Railfuture scheme to encourage further investment in making stations user friendly for all, initiated by our East Anglia branch. The new waiting room at Audley End station, our category 1 winner.