Regional News
WESTERN
Broadway: The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s northern terminus station has had its canopy extended to provide an airy, covered area between the main building and the footbridge.
Its design closely follows the original structure demolished in 1963.
Lostwithiel: Network Railway has donated twothirds of a mile of redundant track and five sets of points to the Plym Valley Railway.
Old Oak Common: A new bridge has been built across Old Oak Common Lane to assist with moving HS2 spoil to Willesden EuroTerminal.
Reading: The new Green Park station project has progressed to the near completion of the main station building and surfacing of the platforms.
Tavistock: It was standing room only at a public meeting during which prospects for the reinstated five-mile link from Bere Alston to the Monksmead area of the town were outlined by the campaigning Peninsula Rail Group. Devon County Council says more than 80% of the old trackbed has been secured.
Totnes: Celebration services operated over the South Devon Railway on May 1, to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the line to Ashburton (then on broad gauge). The section west of Buckfastleigh was closed in September 1962, and the trackbed used as a new road.
Tytherington: The redundant 50-year-old quarry overhead wagon loading equipment has been removed and the track improved.
EASTERN
Bridlington: The station buffet, closed since December 2019, may be reopened as a pub.
Donington: A new group, South Lincs Connected, has been formed with links to the Spalding & Peterborough Transport Forum. It will initially campaign for the reopening of Donington and Littleworth stations and for better bus connections along that corridor.
Fawdon: The closure of the Nestlé factory next year has been confirmed, with the loss of 475 jobs. It was once rail-connected to the East Coast Main Line.
Filey: The platforms of Filey Holiday Camp station (opened on May 10 1847 and closed on July 17 1977) are being demolished, and the site returned to agricultural use.
Huddersfield: A troublesome lift that has given problems for passengers on Platform 1 at the station has been repaired. It links the main entrance with Platforms 4 to 8.
Jarrow: Ownership of the line from Pelaw Junction transferred from Network Rail to Nexus on March 10. This is to facilitate the double tracking of the South Shields Metro line. The connection to the oil terminal will be retained.
York: The buildings on the former North Eastern wagon works site have been demolished, as the site is cleared for redevelopment.
MIDLANDS
Watford: The track and platform is still in position at the disused Croxley branch’s Watford West station, although heavily overgrown. The prospects of the line reopening have receded because of a lack of Transport for London funding. The alignment has also been severed to build the new Ascot Road dual carriageway.
NORTH WEST
Helsby: The Grade 2 Listed 1900 LNWR 45-lever frame signal box has been extensively refurbished with a new roof and cladding, windows, and a
revised interior.
Sellafield: The station car park has been resurfaced. Stockport: The condition of the bases of the viaduct next to the River Tame is worse than expected. More than the 5,000 tonnes of rock ordered in the contract may be needed.
SOUTHERN
Gatwick Airport: The steel frame that will support the new station building has been installed, along with the eight escalators from the platforms.
Portsmouth: South Western Railway has planted a ‘Living Wall’ outside the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour station. It is a vertical bank of green vegetation that absorbs harmful nitrogen oxides.
Thanet Parkway: Both platforms of the new station have been completed, and the buildings are rapidly going up.
Woking: The intended replacement of the main town bridge over the railway may provide the opportunity for long-planned track realignment that will provide space for an additional through line.
ANGLIA
Greater Anglia:
The train operator has introduced £1 hourly flat rate charges for parking for up to four hours at these locations: Audley End, Billericay, Bishop’s Stortford, Broxbourne, Cambridge North, Chelmsford, Cheshunt, Colchester, Diss, Ely, Harlow Town, Hatfield Peverel, Ingatestone, Ipswich, Kelvedon, Manningtree, Marks Tey, Rayleigh, Shenfield, Whittlesford, Wickford and Witham.
Lea Bridge: Waltham Forest Council has given its formal approval to the Stratford-Tottenham line station enlargement scheme.
LONDON
Bank: Northern Line trains made their first test trips through Bank Tube station’s new larger southbound platform over the Easter weekend. The opening is this month, with a new moving walkway to the Central Line in the summer and an entrance on Cannon Street later in the year.
Cockfosters: Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps has personally intervened to overturn the decision to allow 352 new homes, including four 14-storey tower blocks, to be built on the Piccadilly Line station car park. It would have reduced car parking spaces from 370 to 47.
Whitechapel: Tower Hamlets Council has paid for new bilingual station signs. They are the first in the UK to be in Bengali.
SCOTLAND
Anderston: The Rutherglen Central JunctionFinnieston Junction route was closed from March 13-May 9, to enable a comprehensive £32 million programme of slab track replacement and bridge and tunnel repairs. A start was also made on station modernisation, including the installation of lifts. The line should reopen on June 5.
Kilmarnock: The Railway Heritage Trust is contributing £9,240 towards the return to use of a room in the station subway.
Muir of Ord: Network Rail wants to invest £5 million in a 100ft mast at the station, to improve railway communications on the Far North Line particularly between signallers and train drivers.
Winchburgh: Transport Scotland says the company building 3,450 new homes has only allocated half of the money that is required to construct the proposed Edinburgh-Linlithgow line station (the original closed in September 1930). To the dismay of pro-rail West Lothian Council, a bus alternative may have to be found if the balance is not found.