Transpennine Route Upgrade latest progress
These pictures show Network Rail’s progress with upgrading the railway line between Leeds and Manchester. The project aims to create more capacity for longer trains that can deliver quicker journeys.…
Transpennine Route Upgrade reaches Batley and Dewsbury
Trains are now running through Dewsbury and Batley following a 28-day blockade to let Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) upgrade the line. TRU renewed track as follows: Batley 615m, Dewbury 2,760m,…
All change for East Coast services
East Coast Main Line timetables change radically on December 14 2025. And it’s changed since earlier drafts with LNER dropping six previously promised services. However, it still says the new…
Network Rail faces capacity challenge on its Settle-Carlisle line
When news broke earlier this year of extensive closures coming to the northern half of the West Coast Main Line for renewals of overhead wires and signalling, it naturally begged…
How a ‘Big Six’ might provide a map for England’s railways
With Labour in power for a year, pledging to nationalise Britain’s railways, it’s worth a look at progress. After a rapid start, progress has slowed, perhaps even stalled. That quick…
The long wait for a train…
The new Labour government has cancelled the previous administration’s ‘Restoring Your Railways’ project. This article from 2021 looks at Portishead, where the local council has been working since 2008 to…
Use road crisis to boost rail freight
Never waste a good crisis. And it’s fair to say that road transport is having a crisis. Attentive watchers will not be surprised. In 2016, the House of Commons Transport…
Pollution harms air quality on trains
That diesel trains emit more pollution than electric trains is no surprise. Perhaps more surprising is that pollution levels inside trains can be higher than those found by city centre…
Lumo launches at King’s Cross
One of rail’s most enduring features is the small slip of paper or card that marks a passenger’s permission to travel. The physical ticket has survived the switch from steam…
Timetables must balance demand and costs
East Coast Main Line timetables will not change next May. Within barely three months of the rail industry launching a consultation into a new timetable, the Department for Transport has…