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WMT appoints new communications chief

West Midlands Trains (WMT) has announced the appointment of Charlotte Ritchie as the organisation’s head of external communications and engagement. Charlotte, who started her role...

Southeastern establishes new community rail fund to promote social wellbeing and economic development

Train operator Southeastern has launched a £400,000 fund for community rail projects and is inviting proposals from existing Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) and other...

Greater Anglia increases services from Monday 18 May

Greater Anglia has announced how it will change its services to help maintain social distancing as more people return to work, while still ensuring...

LNER introduces FutureLabs to encourage rail innovation

LNER FutureLabs is a new innovation programme from London North Eastern Railway (LNER) that aims to fast-track digital and tech developments into the rail...

GWR names train after Captain Tom

Captain Tom Moore, the veteran who has raised more than £29 million for the NHS to mark his 100th birthday, has been honoured by...

Southern donates abandoned bikes to key workers

To help key workers during the coronavirus epidemic, Southern Rail is working with specialist cycle repair company Handlebars to give them free bikes. Every month,...

New Direct Award Contract for Southeastern

Southeastern has confirmed that the Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded a Direct Award Contract that will allow the Southeastern franchise to continue operating until 16...

Govia Thameslink Railway suspends Gatwick Express service

Govia Thameslink Railway has announced that from Monday, 30 March, the Gatwick Express service will be temporarily suspended until further notice, in response to a significant...

East Midlands Railway

Transport officials have chosen Abellio to run the next East Midlands franchise.  Beginning on August 18 under the name ‘East Midlands Railway’, the new operator...

Stagecoach receives five-month extension for East Midlands franchise

With weeks to go until it was set to expire, the Department for Transport has extended Stagecoach's operation of the East Midlands franchise. The new...

Go-Ahead lands Norwegian train operating contract

British public transport provider Go-Ahead Group has is to run train services in Norway after winning the country's first competitively tendered train operating contract. The company,...

Plans to split up Great Western franchise scrapped

Great Western Railway (GWR) has welcomed the decision not to break up the current Great Western franchise and create a separate operator for the...

ScotRail appoints first female engineering director

Syeda Ghufran has become ScotRail's first female engineering director - just eight years after first joining the train company. She joined the business as a engineering...

Midland Metro becomes West Midlands Metro

The Midland Metro has been rebranded as the West Midlands Metro as control of the light rail system passes over from National Express to...

LNER completes takeover from Virgin Trains East Coast

London North Eastern Railway (LNER), the Department for Transport's (DfT) operator of last resort, has taken over the InterCity East Coast franchise from Virgin Trains East...

Transforming the Wales and Borders franchise

New trains, investment in infrastructure and hundreds of additional staff have been promised in the new 15-year Wales and Borders franchise. KeolisAmey, the same partnership...

Paul Plummer: rail franchising needs to change

Following a number of high-profile stories related to rail franchising, Paul Plummer, CEO of the Rail Delivery Group, says that the way in which...

Some Great Northern services could be transferred to London Overground

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has previously indicated that the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise could be separated into two or more when the...