Michelmersh Brick Holdings of Haywards Heath has supplied 2 600 bespoke bricks for repairs to the Grade II listed Ouse Valley Viaduct on the Brighton Main Line. The project is also using Richmont Crème limestone from a quarry near Poitiers in France.
Funding has been approved for a new station at Balgray. It will be funded with £18·3m from the Glasgow City Region City Deal, £7·87m from both the UK and Scottish governments and £2·56m from East Renfrewshire Council. The station is to be built by Story Contracting. ‘It’s going to make a huge difference for our existing community in Barrhead as well as for residents from the new housing developments, making it much easier to access jobs, education and services’, said East Renfrewshire Council Leader Owen O’Donnell on September 10.
London Overground concessionaire Arriva Rail London has modernised its a driver learning hub at Willesden Junction depot. It now has dedicated training rooms with Class 378 and 710 simulators, as well as an enhanced driver manager office and a ‘chill zone’.
Rail Forum members can now access support from Ian Evley, Innovation & Growth Specialist at Innovate UK Business Growth. ‘The barriers for introducing innovation to rail can be difficult to navigate’, said Catherine Appleby, Membership & Engagement Director at Rail Forum. ‘By working in partnership with Innovate UK and particularly Ian, we are able to provide real support for our members, helping them to develop new products and services and access funding and guidance. When combined with our wider innovation workstream, we are confident that our members will have every opportunity to bring forward innovation.’
In addition to the existing Trainer Driver Standard (ST0645), Ofqual has approved the Chartered Institution of Railway Operators to deliver End-Point Assessments for ST1378: L3 Rail Infrastructure Operator and ST1438: L3 Transport Scheduler (Rail Transport Only) apprenticeships. ‘Although both standards are still in the development stage, we look forward to welcoming our first apprentices later in the year’, said Joint Head of Awarding Organisation at CIRO, Vicky Johndrow.
This month TransPennine Express is to start work on a £500 000 refurbishment of the toilets at Hull Paragon station, adding two extra cubicles to the women’s toilets and one to the men’s. The accessible toilet will also be given a makeover. The refurbishment is to be completed by Spring 2025.
East Midlands Railway is to install free wi-fi at 97 stations.
Northern has appointed Head of Engineering Tony Plumbley to lead its engineering preparations for the roll-out of ETCS. He will support Barry Thomas, the operator’s Head of ETCS. Recruitment for a new Head of Engineering will begin shortly.
RAIB makes four recommendations in its report into an overspeed incident at Spital Junction, Peterborough, on May 4 2023. The first is for Grand Central to review its training and competence management processes to manage the risk encountered at signals which may show different aspects to those usually encountered. The second asks Network Rail and train operators to review the processes by which they share learnings that involve shared risks across organisations. The third is for RSSB to review the standards specifying the relative brightness of main aspects and junction indicators on signals to understand the effects on conspicuity of the complete signal up to the maximum distance at which a signal is required to be readable. The fourth is for Network Rail to manage the risk of a driver not seeing a route indication because of the gradual reduction in light output of LED signals which occurs over time. Two learning points relate to train operators ensuring that their route risk assessments include the risks to their services from signals which may show different aspects to those usually encountered, and managing the competence of safety critical staff.