RAILDATE 2025.01.03

Your free weekly guide to what's happening and what's new.

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Raildate is a collaboration between the editor and a number of contributors. Please think about supplying links that you spot. The contact email address is: raildate.co.uk@gmail.com

The latest Raildate is always at https://latest.raildate.co.uk

There are sections on:

• UK Rail News
• International Rail News
• Other Transport Modes
• The Weekly Poser (and the answer to last week's poser)

UK Rail News

East

• North Norfolk Railway C&W review of 2024
• Fallen Tree blocked line at Audley End

East Midlands

• Working on the railway is no longer a man's world as inspiring East Midland Railway workers show
• Controversial EFL team’s old stadium and former home of national side is now headquarters of Network Rail

London

• TfL dusts off plan for £10bn Bakerloo line extension to Bromley
• TfL issues update on Bakerloo line extension to Bromley and when work would actually begin
• Pontoon Dock DLR station in Silvertown set for £44m upgrade

Midlands

• Hinckley: New details emerge for £750m freight rail hub

North West

• Traction current cables stolen near Bolton
• UK flooding: Aerial video shows collapsed Cheshire canal bank
• Significant cable theft means Sunday disruption for passengers between Preston and Bolton

Scotland

• Highland Main Line closed as heavy rain leaves tracks 'unsafe'
• Highland Mainline closed by flooding at Kingussie
• Caledonian Sleeper photo competition results

South

• Shillingstone station restoration

South East

• North Downs line to be closed in February for engineering works
• Brighton: Train disruption due to urgent viaduct repairs
• Horn salute by Volks Electric Railway for the start of 2025
• Rail line re-opens after emergency landslip works
• Ramsgate derailment recovery postponed to January
• Cascade of units between Thameslink, Southern and South Eastern
• Southeastern trains back running after signalling staff member taken ill
• Emergency repairs to Guildford New Line
• Battery-electric trains the preferred option to replace Class 165s and 166s on GWR cross-country route

Wales

• Grant for repairs to Welshpool and Llanfair buildings
• The journey so far of the rare last remaining set Class 100 DMU!

West

• Fire at Swindon and Cricklade Railway
• GWR January Sales.
• Epic work to protect vital Devon railway line completed
• Memorial service for anniversary of ammunition train explosion near Marlborough in 1946
• Two Stalls and One failure on the Bodmin Railway Winter Gala 2024

Yorkshire

• Christmas and New Year respite for Skelton railway residents

National

• Heritage railways start anniversary year with 'whistle-up'
• Massive Chaos Expectation May Leads to Total Misery Due to Frosty Weather and Strikes

Rail Industry

• Profile of John Smith, CEO of GBRf

International Rail News

Europe

• Europe’s most exciting new train routes for 2025
• Eurostar failure in the Channel Tunnel.

Japan

• The top 10 annoying foreign tourist behaviors on trains, as chosen by Japanese people
• Stranded Shinkansen bullet train back in normal operation in northern Japan

Mauritania

• Upgrade to iron ore railway in Mauritania

Switzerland

• Golden Pass gauge changing train between Montreux and Interlaken
• Alp Grum station hotel with only rail access
• Swiss Federal Railways switch to 100% renewable power

USA

• Brightline (Florida) level crossing accident with fire truck
• Tehachapi and the remains of a derailment (23 minutes )

Other Transport Modes

Air

• Ryanair to take delivery of up to 29 new planes in 2025
• Fatal Boeing 737-800 crash in South Korea
• Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan

Bus

• Fancy dress bus driver on Tyneside
• Strike action on First South West buses

Marine

• Orbit Clipper' will change the London commute as we know it in 2025
• Electric ‘flying’ ferries to begin three-year Orkney trial from January
• One berth to reopen at Holyhead on 16th January
• CalMac cuts passenger numbers over safety failure
• 'Green' CalMac ferry emits more CO2 than old diesel ship
• Royal Fleet Auxiliary : RMT strike over pay and conditions
• The Scrapping Of The RMS Olympic and Her Remnants. See also Poser answer 2024.08.09

Credits

Thank you to this week's contributors.

• Alan Rushworth
• Andrew Nummelin
• Bill King
• John Grimley
• John Oliver
• Mike Price
• Neil Kearns
• Paul Hopper
• Paul Tambini

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

A railway works and two stations. Where is it?

Please send your answers to raildate.co.uk@gmail.com

Last week's Where is this?

A newly opened station concourse. Where is it?

Answer: Belfast Grand Central. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Mark Bailey, Dave Goodyear, Phil Drake, Neil Spencer, Philip Simpkins, Jeremy Harrison, Phil Deaves, Simon Wass, Richard Weller.

Image credit: Paul Hopper.

The new railway terminus and bus station opened in autumn 2024: 8th Sep for buses, 13th Oct for trains. It's the hub for pretty-much all rail services in Northern Ireland.

Until 1976, Great Victoria Street station occupied the site. It closed to allow the A12 Westlink to be built, and was replaced by new platforms to the south. The buildings survived until 2015, as shown below, before being cleared for redevelopment.

None of the available satellite map services show the completed station so I've overlaid the OpenRailMap tracks to illustrate the new alignment. There are eight platforms and 26 bus stands. Giving the terminus a new name was, I assume, to avoid sensitivities over the previous royal connection. Ticket machines are in English, French, German, and Italian but, oddly, not Irish.

SMALL PRINT

We welcome links to publicly available online news items and videos from anywhere in the world.  Despite its name, Raildate covers all transport modes, including also bus, tram, air, and marine.  

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©  Matthew Shaw 2025