Find out what’s been happening on the rail network in your area
GREAT WESTERN
Bristol: Mayor Marvin Rees anticipates a three- line underground network within ten years, connecting the city centre with the Airport, Emersons Green and Aztec West. He wants most of it to be underground. Evesham: The station platforms are to be extended by 620 feet.
Gloucester: Network Rail has told the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Museum that it has changed its mind about it becoming a preservation centre and workshop. NR now wants to sell the old Horton Road shed for new housing.
Newbury: The new station footbridge should be installed within a few weeks, having been delayed from the end of last year after the discovery of underground live cables.
Newton Abbot: The High Court must decide whether the former engine shed is to be replaced by a new Aldi supermarket, after Teignbridge Council overruled a conservation report and granted planning permission. The Save our Shed action group is mounting the challenge, but whatever the outcome, the GWR signal gantry will be retained and refurbished.
Oxford: The station’s Platform 1 is receiving a new canopy. Others are also being installed on Platforms 2 and 3. Princes Risborough: A new bay platform is under construction to connect the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway to the Chiltern Main Line. Track awaits installation, and services should commence towards the end of 2018.
Totnes: A new £1.5 million step-free station footbridge and lift will replace the existing structure before the end of the year.
EASTERN
Darlington: The eastern link road has been named Tornado Way, after the ‘A1’ 60163 which was completed at Hopetown Works in the town in 2008.
Huntingdon: Additional electrification masts are being installed on almost three miles of the East Coast Main Line. They will reduce the problem of falling wires on an exposed stretch.
Saltburn: The cliff lift is closed while the two cars are away for overhaul, and also for track repairs. It will reopen in the spring.
Scarborough: The new maintenance depot and sidings for TransPennine Express’s new stock should be completed by the summer.
MIDLANDS
Birmingham: The latest Midland Metro city centre extension is falling behind schedule because of a delay in the property development programme of Argent, and now also the liquidation of Carillion.
Bridgnorth: The high footbridge linking the Severn Valley Railway is receiving temporary repairs, after the bolt anchorages at the western end broke away on January 6. It will be permanently fixed in the autumn. Wolverhampton: The nine- month delay in completing the station redevelopment will add £ 800,000 to the cost of extending Midland Metro.
NORTH WEST
Buxton: The run- round sidings are to be almost doubled in length to 850 yards, to accommodate heavier trains. The works will take place next year.
Gobowen: The Oswestry Station Building Trust has submitted its planning application to modify the interior of the Grade 2- listed building, to create shops and offices. The original features will not be affected. Haslington: A headstone has been erected over the umarked grave of Wallace Oakes GC, the driver who stayed at the controls of his steam- hauled EustonCarlisle express at Winsford on June 5 1965 despite being seriously burned by a blowback. He died a week later. Kirkham & Wesham: A new footbridge to serve a new platform at the station was lifted into place on January 19. Preston: Work will start during March on the
¾ - mile Trampower demonstration line, on the old Deepdale branch in the north of the city. It could be operational within two years, and eventually be extended to over three miles.
SOUTHERN
Guildford: The recently approved station redevelopment may include a new Platform 0.
London Bridge: The South Eastern Railway war memorial has been cleaned and installed in the station’s southern entrance. It has been relocated from the 1893 former Tooley Street offices, which are subject to redevelopment.
Strood: The new modular station building is now functioning. Twickenham: Foundations for the new station are in place, and the structure should be completed before the end of the year.
ANGLIA
Angel Road: The London- Cheshunt line station is being resited 300 yards south of the present structure. Work began at the end of December. Beaulieu: Developers of the new station in north Chelmsford have secured £ 3 million towards its design. Its opening is anticipated in 2025. Castle Hedingham: The Colne Valley Railway expects to have its revamped station headquarters completed by the summer. The Heritage Lottery Fund has contributed three- quarters of the cost of the £ 2.4 million project, which includes purchasing the site, and building a new museum, entrance hall and car park.
Colchester: City council plans for up to 1,000 new homes over the next five years have been opposed by groups who cite severe overcrowding already on trains to London.
SCOTLAND
Barrhead: A station is proposed on the GlasgowAyr line to serve new homes, industry and a country park on the south side of the town. It could open in 2021. Pitlochry: The Up siding has been removed to allow the station platform to be extended.
WALES
Bala: A start was made in early February on the Bala Lake Railway’s extension into the town. Contractors are removing toxic asbestos, before demolishing the old building that will make way for the new terminus station. Cardiff: The future of Central station is again under review, with £100 million now allocated to its complete reconstruction, which will link to other city centre developments. This is half the projected cost, and work could start in 2020. There will be provision for a tramway for services to Cardiff Bay.
Fishguard: Stena Line, which conveys rail passengers onwards by sea to Ireland, has pulled out of a plan for a new marina development so that it can focus on its core business.
LONDON
Custom House: The Docklands Light Railway station has reopened after a year’s closure for integration into the Elizabeth Line. Work will continue until the spring on a new mezzanine deck, canopies and two additional staircases.
Elizabeth Line: Station improvements due to take place during March include new footbridges, lifts and step-free access at Manor Park, Seven Kings and Maryland stations, and renovation of the canopies at Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes and Ilford.
Kennington: Route capacity has been increased by a third, with the installation of two new junctions to connect the new Northern Line Extension tunnels to the existing track, and new signalling on four lines - the Hammersmith & City, District, Circle and Metropolitan.
Victoria: Transport for London has unveiled the new Underground station ticket hall in Wilton Road, part of the £ 700 million revamp. It is twice the size of the old one.