Franchises

There is still debate over the new rail franchises, with a number of companies getting extension on their routes. Tell me what you think of the way the franchise situation is being dealt with. Leave a comment below.

FGW accident at Athelney crossing

A FGW HST has it a Car at Athelney crossing between Taunton and Castle Cary.

More information here : http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Train-passengers-disembark-hours-man-dies-level/story-18483346-detail/story.html#axzz2OB0LUrls

Old street tunnel

Whoops somebody wasn't paying attention. A drill has gone through the northern city line between Moor gate and Finsbury park.

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21715329

GWML franchise update.

The four companies that bid to run the Great Western Main line Franchise have begun legal action against the Department of Transport for cancelling the franchise bidding process.

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21704682

BBC series on Keeping Britian's Railways On-track.

The 4th episode of the BBC series on Keeping Britain's railways on track is now on Iplayer. I do feel that the program was slightly sided to show the Positive aspects of Virgin Trains. (and the shot of SRB)

More information Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01r76kw/The_Railway_Keeping_Britain_on_Track_West_Coast_Mainline/

BBC series, Keeping Britian's railways on track.

Episode 4 of the BBC series on Keeping Britian's railways on-track will be aired tommorow (5th march) and is all about the West coast Main Line.

More information Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/10/the-railway-keeping-britain-on-track.html

BBC Keeping Britian's Railways On Track!

Episode 3 of the BBC series of Keeping Britian's Railway On Track is Now available on BBC iplayer.

More information Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01r1yy6/The_Railway_Keeping_Britain_on_Track_Standing_Room_Only/ (Available until 26th march 2013)

Keeping Britian's Railways on Track BBC 2

The Third episode of the BBC series of Britian's Railways, Keeping Britian's Railways On track will be aired tommorow. The episode will focus on the commuters on the Reading to London Paddington line and the rebuilding of Reading station.

More information Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/09/the-railway-keeping-britain-on-track.html

Major delays between Kings Cross and Peterborough.

Major delays between London Kings Cross and Peterborough due to overhead Power lines problem that is reported to be due to a East Coast 91 paragraph defect which has brought down a km of Overhead wires.

More information here and Delays are suspected to last until Friday/Saterday however 2 of the 4 lines are hoped to be open tomorrow : http://nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa0e93ea1771460baa8ea922b27383fd/details.html

BBC Keeping the railway on track

The second episode of the BBC series on keeping britian's railways on track. This episode is now available on the BBC iplayer (until 26 march 2013). The episode is focused on the Leeds area and summer madness.

More information here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qyfq8/The_Railway_Keeping_Britain_on_Track_Summer_Madness/

The railways BBC 2 EP 2

The second episode of The Railways- Keeping Britian on track. Today's  episode which is on BBC 2 at 9pm is all about summer madness in and around the Leeds area.

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qyfq8

91007 Bond livery

The 91 owned by East Coast has gained a James bond vinyl

A picture of the new livery is bellow:

Major landslip between Doncaster and Scunthorpe

There has been a major landslip between Doncaster and Scunthorpe which network rail says will close the line for about 8 weeks. A replacement bus service is running and will continue to until the track stops moving.

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-21441070

91007 vinyl Skyfall livery

East Coast 91007 will gain some James bond skyfall vinyl's to honour the 50 years of James bond and the success of the film skyfall!

More information here: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=79129

BBC keeping Britian on track Ep-1

The first episode of Keeping britian on track was aired yesterday! It was portraying how Kings Cross was before the opening of the new western concourse. The program gave a great view to how the staff at Kings cross cope with the every day running of a 21st century railway.

More information + the program( Until 26th march 2013) Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qqzb6/The_Railway_Keeping_Britain_on_Track_Kings_Cross/

Here is a Photograph the I have taken at Kings cross of the New concourse.

Crossrail 2

New plans unveiled today by a number of London Businesses detailing the proposals for Crossrail 2. This is suppose to be be a north to south railway however it would be from Cheshunt to Wimbledon area with possible extensions. This would mean a connection from South West Trains to Greater Anglia.

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21333361

BBC Keeping Britain's railways on track!

The BBC's Keeping Britian's railways on track series has been given an air date and time, The first of the 6 part series will be aired on BBC 2 at 9pm on Tuesday 12th feb.

More information here:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/07/the-railway-keeping-britain-on-track.html

York Derailment

It hasn't been the best month for West coast railways when 47500 caught fire then on the 1st feb a A4 support coach derailed whilst on a steam railtour.

More information here: http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/news/a4-support-coach-derails-at-york

Great western franchise

The franchise of the great western main line has been cancelled for the 15 year franchise.  The franchise will be run by First until October 2013 where a possible 2 year extension will be negotiated between First and DFT. If the negotiations are not feasible in DFT's eyes then Directly operated railways will step in. This will result in a train operating company like East coast. The 15 year contract will be decided and rebid for after the 2 year extension.

More information here: http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/news/great-western-franchise-competition-cancelled

West coast Rail franchise

The "major failures" resulting in the collapse of west coast rail franchise deal with First and Virgin trains.

More information here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21266501

Route for HS2

The route for the 2nd phase of High Speed 2 have been announced. This phase of the project will be an extension of the current HS2 phase one from London to Birmingham and then onwards to Manchester and Leeds.

More information here: http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/news/preferred-hs2-route-to-leeds-and-manchester-announced

Route for HS2

The phase 1 route map for HS2 is now available for an in-depth view here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12514475

BBC Keeping britians railways on track

New series on UK Railways starting soon

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/07/the-railway-keeping-britain-on-track.html

Crossrail on the one show

Crossrail has been featured on the one show today(28/01/13) explaining what the project is all about!

Watch here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qdrp7/The_One_Show_28_01_2013/

ukrailblog now on twitter!

The ukrailblog is ow on twitter follow @UKrailwayblog for up to data information on the blog on the go! This twitter feed will be updated ever time that a post is put on the blog.

AC Traction

There are some serious worries for rail enthusiasts across the county as there is long term concerns for the AC traction company. AC traction company own and maintain and restore AC electric locomotives that include the class 87, Class 86, class 82, class 83 and the only class 89.

More information here: http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/news/end-of-the-line-for-main-line-heritage-ac-traction

HS2

The second phase of High Speed Two has been announced specifying the route from London to Birmingham  Leeds and Manchester.

More information here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21221828

47500 on fire in manchester

47500 has derailed and caught fire just outside of Manchester.

More information here- http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2013-01-23/train-derails-in-manchester/#four-fire-engines-tackle-train-blaze_150705

Ticket prices

The BBC have found some interesting statistics on the season tickets and single fares and compared them to the fares in 1995

More information here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21056703

LU 150 years steam tour

The London underground 150 years celebrations are well under way with the start of the steam hauled tours on the circle line between Olympia and Farringdon/Moorgate

More information here - http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/news/thousands-line-platforms-for-met-150