Latest news with #railnetwork
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Great British Railways: renationalisation can put passengers back in the driving seat
Government guidance documents rarely feature soaring prose to fire the imagination. But a recent Department for Transport policy update contained one passage to lift the spirits of train users up and down the country. Setting out the future of Great British Railways (GBR), the public body that will oversee a renationalised and reintegrated rail network, its authors observe that 'instead of having to navigate 14 separate train operators, passengers will once again simply be able to use 'the railway''. Last month, this journey back to the future began as the first renationalised South Western Railway (SWR) service departed Woking for London Waterloo, complete with union jack branding and the logo 'Great British Railways: coming soon'. The remaining nine private franchises will be back in public ownership by 2027, by which time a new GBR headquarters will be up and running in Derby. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, hailed the moment as a new dawn. There can be little doubt that a reset is badly needed. Fragmentation, in the name of competition, was the original sin of the destructive and ideological privatisation of the rail network in the 1990s. The wrongheaded decision to separate the management of track and trains led to confused accountability and buck-passing between train operators and Network Rail. Accompanying marketisation, and the restless search for profit, inaugurated an era in which a baffling profusion of ticket types did little to mitigate the cost of travelling on the most expensive trains in Europe. Poor performance by franchises such as Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express (taken back into public ownership in 2023) undermined public confidence in an industry crucial to Britain's green transition. A period of disastrous industrial relations, and reduced passenger numbers since the pandemic, have compounded a sense of crisis. It would be foolish to hope for an instant turnaround. The future shape and finances of rail travel are still unclear, following the post-Covid collapse in lucrative commuter and business travel. But having been constituted explicitly as a publicly run 'guiding mind' for the whole network, carrying responsibility for both track and trains, GBR will have the power to rationalise its operations and place the interests of passengers first. A simpler, more joined-up ticketing system should be a priority. Somewhat bathetically, the optics of last month's SWR launch were compromised by Sunday engineering works and the need for a rail replacement bus from Surbiton to London Waterloo. Some things never change. But though free-market dogmatists will have relished that hitch to proceedings, a large majority of the population strongly welcome the prospective return of a vital public good to public hands. Much of their support, however, is undoubtedly linked to a hope that GBR will do something to address the often prohibitive cost of travelling by rail in Britain. On the subject of cheaper tickets, Ms Alexander has been noticeably reticent, pointing to current subsidies of £2bn a year. Labour should think bigger. In the 1960s, Ms Alexander's predecessor in the Department for Transport, Barbara Castle, pioneered the idea of a subsidised 'social railway' in the wake of the deeply unpopular Beeching cuts. After a disruptive and demoralising period, a similar level of imagination is needed today for an industry that delivers crucial economic, environmental and societal benefits.
RNZ News
02-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Wellington trains running again after delays, disruptions
Metlink says buses were replacing trains for the majority of the network on Tuesday morning. Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens Wellington region rail commuters have been welcomed back from the long weekend with a raft of disruptions. Metlink said buses were replacing trains for the majority of the network on Tuesday morning because of a points fault affecting signal lights. It said this was not linked to the track network upgrade work over the weekend. Wairarapa commuters were being delayed on Tuesday morning because of rust that built up while the tracks were closed for the upgrade. Trains must slow to 10 km/h on affected level crossings until the rust has been worn off by several trains. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- The Guardian
Sydney trains delays: fare-free day to compensate commuters stuck in rail chaos as Minns calls for review
The New South Wales premier has called for an independent review as hundreds of thousands of Sydney commuters continue to face severe disruptions after a high-voltage wire collapsed on to a train on Tuesday afternoon, crippling the city's rail network. Chris Minns also announced a fare-free day for Monday to compensate commuters who faced chaotic train platforms, long bus queues and Uber surge pricing as westbound trains were halted due to the incident at Strathfield that triggered a network-wide power outage, affecting all but one heavy rail line. The state government apologised to commuters and said that extensive repairs on overhead wiring at Homebush had been completed on Wednesday morning. It said services would gradually return to normal over the course of the day, but passengers should expect 'residual delays'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email At 10am, there were still confused passengers crowding on to trains at Sydney's Central station for services that had been cancelled. Travellers would be compensated with a fare-free day on Monday, the government said. Chris Minns said it was considering an independent review into the maintenance and punctuality of Sydney trains after the incident. 'We've got to get better, this is nowhere near good enough, and it's certainly not on par with international standards,' he told 2GB on Wednesday morning. 'I need an independent review into this. We are looking at bringing someone in from the airline sector … A fresh set of eyes that can look at three things: the maintenance program that we've undertaken, the punctuality of trains on the Sydney trains network, and also communication,' he said. 'I don't think that we are clear enough about what the immediate and longer-term impacts will be.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Passengers planning to use the rail network on Wednesday were advised to delay travel or use alternative transport. There would be reduced services on all lines, and trains would not run to the timetable, the government said. 'Sydney Trains teams worked hard overnight in tough rainy conditions to remove a defective train and repair the overhead wiring that caused major disruption on the rail network yesterday. The work was then inspected and certified, and the 1,500 volt power switched back on,' Transport for NSW said in a statement. 'We acknowledge how frustrating this has been for passengers and apologise for the disruption.' The Sydney Metro was unaffected by the outage but was still overcrowded on Wednesday morning, with rail users looking for alternative ways to get to work. Transport for NSW activated its agreement with Uber to protect customers from unreasonable surge pricing on Tuesday, but the measure is understood to take effect only after the usual fare doubles.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Read the full list of Sydney Trains services in meltdown: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9
Why are Sydney Trains are delayed and cancelled today? T1 North Shore & Western Line T2 Inner West & Leppington Line T3 Bankstown Line T5 Cumberland Line T8 Airport & South Line T9 Northern Line Blue Mountains Line Central Coast & Newcastle Line What to do? Passengers planning on travelling on the rail network this morning are advised to avoid travel or use alternative transport if possible, Transport for NSW said. If you need to travel on the network there will be limited shuttles operating. If passengers must travel, plan ahead and allow extra travel time. We have trains running on all lines, but at a reduced frequency.
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Watch: Deputy PM Winston Peters tells heckler 'naff off' following rail announcement
Winston Peters engaged in a verbal tussle with a heckler on Tuesday morning, following comments he made on the potential punishment of Te Pāti Māori MPs. The rail minister, joined by Transport Minister Chris Bishop, had just announced the government will spend more than $600 million to upgrade the country's rail network as part of this year's Budget . At the end of the press conference, a member of the public heckled Peters as he was answering questions about the potential punishment to be debated in Parliament later that day. Peters said the MPs had treated the Parliament protocols with "absolute contempt" when a passerby yelled "what a load of bollocks". "Who said bollocks? You look like bollocks, go look in the mirror, sunshine. You look like bollocks, mate," Peters said. The man took issue with being called sunshine and said Peters was a "tosser". Peters responded by telling the man to "naff off". The man then said to Peters: "When are you going naff off? You're 80 years old now." "Oh, so it's an age thing is it?" Peters said. "You look older than I do, mate." The verbal spat continued for a short time longer before Peters wrapped up. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
