Find out what’s been happening on the rail network in your area
WESTERN
Banbury: Oxfordshire County Council will spend £ 2.5 million on a second access point to the station, to improve traffic flow for buses, cars and taxis.
Cranmore: The reinstated East Somerset Railway station waiting room is a replica of the original, and is due to open at the start of the 2019 operating season. It has been christened the David Shepherd Discovery Centre, and has been part-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The next phase of improvements includes completion of the Down platform, and a new museum.
Midsomer Norton: The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust aims to have a mile of operational line next month, following tracklaying as far as the infilled cutting.
Norton: The main building and footbridge at Worcestershire Parkway station is practically complete, and work has now started on the 300yard platforms, which are being constructed off- site and manoeuvred into place. The opening date is the end of this year.
Wallingford: Damaged sections of the former Marlow branch platform canopy recovered from Maidenhead station have been made good thanks to a grant from the Railway Heritage Trust, with missing parts replaced. The structure will eventually be re- erected at the terminus of the Cholsey &
Wallingford Railway.
Worcester: A £ 3 million government grant has been awarded to open up eight railway arches for businesses and cultural projects, and to create a walking route from Foregate Street station to the River Severn. EASTERN Finsbury Park: The new station lifts have been commissioned.
Killingworth: There has been considerable interest from potential purchasers in Dial Cottage, which was the home of George and Robert Stephenson between 1805-23. The three- bedroom Grade-2 listed house is being sold by North Tyneside Council.
Lincoln: There is still clear evidence of the original Ruston & Hornsby works at Waterside South, although it is currently manufacturing gas turbines under the ownership of Siemens. The last locomotive ( 544998) was completed on February 19 1969, and it survives in preservation.
Spalding: The Grade 2- listed station may be reconfigured with shops in the frontage, under a £ 2.5 million scheme announced by East Midlands Trains, with support from the Railway Heritage Trust to reinstate missing doors, windows and flooring. Lifts and better lighting are also planned.
Steeton & Silsden: Approval has been given for the
multi- storey station car park, which will provide 170 extra spaces. Construction work will start in April, and it will continue to be free to use. MIDLANDS
Birmingham: The first Midland Metro tram track, part of the Westside extension, was laid in the city centre in early February.
Bricket Wood: A Cold War railway control centre on Station Road has been given listed building status. Dating back to 1954, it was designed to survive an atomic bomb strike.
Eardington: The Severn Valley Railway supports the idea of reopening the minor station, which will serve a new £ 50 million leisure development on the Astbury Estate. Its promoters would contribute to the cost. Lichfield: Trent Valley station is to get a new footbridge by early summer, at a cost of £ 2.3 million. SOUTHERN Carshalton: New passenger lifts are being installed. Coulsdon South: A new footbridge ( with lifts) is planned for the Brighton Main Line station. Dorking: Dorking Town Forum is pushing hard for the new station to the east of the present Deepdene platforms, with an elevated walkway to the main station.
Eastbourne: The 1886 Grade 2- listed station roof requires heavy repairs, including replacing the slate tiles and refurbishing the decorative iron cresting.
Uckfield: February 24 marked the 50th anniversary of the closure of the through route to Lewes, one of the most controversial railway decisions of 1969.
Waterloo: Coinciding with the reopening of all the former Eurostar platforms in May, a leisure complex and new shops are being built below them, with a new entrance to the London Underground. ANGLIA
Kimberley: Further tracklaying is taking place at the Mid- Norfolk Railway site.
Shenfield: At the current fast rate of progress, the £46 million programme to renew the entire 25kV wiring to Southend Victoria is expected to be completed two months early, in March 2020. However, this will be at the expense of a nine- day closure of the Wickford line from May 25.
Meldreth: The station’s Cambridge- bound platform is getting its first- ever waiting shelter.
Sizewell: Railfuture has submitted evidence to a Public Inquiry into the new Sizewell C Power Station, and is pressing for the Woodbridge-Saxmundham section of the East Suffolk Line to be double-track. It could have a lasting legacy of benefits after construction works have finished.
Whittlesford: Two hundred bicycle racks have been promised for the station, while a large housing estate has been authorised alongside the northbound platform. SCOTLAND
Alford: The loss- making Alford Valley Railway company is to be converted into a trust to keep the 2ft gauge line in operation. It occupies the trackbed of the former GNoSR branch from Kintore ( closed to passengers in 1950, and goods in 1966).
Cockenzie: The closed power station site alongside the East Coast Main Line ( near Prestonpans, and formerly rail- served) could be turned into a cruise port. East Lothian Council, which owns the land, is expected to pay for it and then lease it to operators.
Dumbarton: The badly deteriorated roof and fabric of the former ticket office at Dumbarton Central station is receiving heavy repairs.
Forth Bridge: A new suspended gantry has been installed, enabling Network Rail to carry out a twoyear repair programme to resolve stress defects on the central span.
Glasgow: It will cost £13 million to overhaul the River Clyde bridge at the throat of Glasgow Central station. Built between 1899-1905, it will be inspected, repaired, and repainted in its existing colours. Starting at the southern ( Tradeston) end, the work will be completed by December 2020 without disruption to the 1,300 services that cross it daily.
Halbeath: MSP Alex Rowley has criticised Transport Scotland and Fife Council for a lack of progress with the new £ 7 million park- and- ride station. It is needed to serve new housing in eastern Dunfermline, but no money has been allocated to it despite being on their agenda in July 2017. WALES Blaenau Ffestiniog: A rock fall inside the 2.2mile tunnel forced the suspension of services over the branch to Llandudno Junction for a week from January 20. Trains started and terminated at Betwsy- Coed. Cardiff: A demonstration march on January 19 protested against the demolition of Guildford Crescent, one of the city’s last Victorian terraces that is immediately south of Queen Street station. LONDON Essex Road: Over 20 years since the Network SouthEast brand name became redundant, the red, blue and white signs have been removed from the Northern City Line.
Victoria Line: It will be 50 years on March 7 since London’s first completely new Tube line for 62 years was opened throughout.