RAILDATE 2025.03.14

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

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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

• Planted roofs but no car park at Cambridge South station
• Greater Anglia named best performing UK train operator
• Greater Anglia trains from London on 3 major routes affected

East Midlands

• Application for a multimodal freight terminal at Hinkley
• New lifts opened at Beeston
• Fault finding by helicopter
• Rebuilding a Swietelsky UK  tamping machine

London

• Passengers at risk with e-bikes on Tub
• Tube station book swap ban 'ridiculous'
• Commuter chaos as London's busiest tube line suffers 'severe delays' from 'track fault'
• Easter railway disruptions affecting Euston and Victoria stations
• The sad reason a London Overground station has 1 completely abandoned platform
• Midland Main Line improvements continue this weekend after another milestone in major Camden project
• TfL update on Thames Wharf DLR station next to Silvertown Tunnel
• London Underground locomotive set for Greatest Gathering appearance
• Tube union threatens strike unless e-bikes are banned from London Underground after platform blaze
• I’m the famous voice of the Tube – but I’m devastated at being replaced by AI… it’s ruining our culture
• The enduring appeal of Transport for London’s seat designs

Midlands

• Model King James train to be auctioned for charity
• Young railway enthusiast gets birthday treat
• The benefits of using freight on the Wales & Borders route

North East

• Newsham or Newsum – Northern staff briefing
• Northern staff told to avoid common mistake ahead of new Northumberland Line station opening

Scotland

• Open day at Ferryhill Shed, Aberdeen

South

• Road closure for bridge inspection at Dorchester West
• Anniversary of Romsey Station

South East

• Trackside homes to get rail works alerts by email
• Model railway maker Hornby becomes latest company to quit struggling Aim
• Steam locomotive Willy set to visit the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Wales

• Network Rail under fire for tree felling on Clement Place, Barry
• Freight services in Wales

West

• Class 175 trains to help Great Western Railway improve reliability across the network
• Heritage railway says 'fraud' behind missing £50k
• Suggestion of daily Bristol – Oxford train service
• GWR upgrading 26 trains to improve rail services in Cornwall and Devon
• Class 175 diesel units for West Country routes
• Opposition to Portishead line reopening

Yorkshire

• Pregnant, forced to sit on a train floor – then unjustly fined for fare dodging

International Rail News

Austria

• Stadler to Deliver SMILE High-Speed Trains to WESTbahn
• Westbahn orders new high speed units from Stadler

Belgium

• Hallucinatory images from Belgium become world news after woman crosses train tracks with buggy in Sint-Niklaas

Canada

• Liberals’ high-speed rail: a fast track to privatization
• Via Rail suing The Forks over nearly 40-year-old agreement on land use rights
• Toronto Transit Commission begins streetcar storage expansion project
• VIA Rail Canada Appoints Jonathan Goldbloom as New Chairperson Effective April 2025

Denmark

• Fehmarnbelt Tunnel: The vast undersea structure that will change the road and rail map of Europe

Egypt

• Fatal accident involving minibus in Egypt

Europe

• Virgin plans for Channel Tunnel train service
• Virgin aims to raise £700m to rival Eurostar on cross-Channel trains

France

• Alstom and SNCF Voyageurs Unveil Interior Design for Future TGV INOUI
• Gare Du Nord domestic services resumed about 1700 Friday
• Paris Gare du Nord trains halted after WW2 bomb found at St Denis
• WW2 bomb defused on rail tracks near Paris after day of transport chaos

Germany

• Deutchlandticket for cheap travel in Germany

India

• India to Kazakhstan sea and rail container service launched

Ireland

• DART delays after 'trespasser' removed from line at Bray 

Japan

• Kyotram brings new luxury look to public transport in Kyoto
• Original 1950s trolleys still a regular sight on Kochi’s streets
• 1st cargo-only bullet train to start in fall, link Tokyo, Morioka
• Next-gen Tohoku bullet train now in development for 2030 debut
• JR East investigating Shinkansen decoupling incident

Pakistan

• Hostages released from hijacked train
• Train hijacked in Pakistan
• Militants say 214 people taken hostage as train hijacked in Pakistan
• Pakistan operation to free hostages after train hijacking ends with dozens killed

Peru

• Watch: Man survives being run over by train

Slovakia

• Slovakian electrification energised

Sweden

• In Sweden, Alstom grows its Motala site expertise in maintenance and secures an eight-years full service contract with Alpha Trains

Taiwan

• History of Taiwan Railway system

USA

• BNSF Drone operations and fault finding

Other Transport Modes

Air

• Labor’s bid to bolster Australian airline passenger rights may prove weaker than existing law, Choice warns

Bus

• Heritage bus rides in West London on 29th March
• Bus fire in Haywards Heath
• We Found a Rare Collection of Buses at an Abandoned School!

Marine

• Oil tanker and cargo ship collide off Humberside coast
• Fire extinguished on Tanker
• Oil tanker and cargo vessel collide in North Sea
• Damage to tanker Stena Immaculate
• Unusual 'winged' cargo ship docks at port for the first time
• Top shipping broker Clarksons says war and Trump tariff fears have hit revenues

Road

• Taxi firms crowdfund legal battle with Uber over VAT on fares in UK

Credits

Thank you to this week's contributors.

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

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

Another complex approach to a city, with a closed line in the foreground. 1970s photo. Where is it?

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

Last week's Where is this?

A satellite image of lines approaching a city terminus. Where is it?

Answer: Hull, looking east. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Blair Robinson, David Goddard, Simon Wass, Colin Penfold, Neil Spencer, Dave Goodyear, Jeremy Harrison, Chris Neale, Bryn Pitcher, Paul Hopper, Neil Kearns, Ian Lowe, George Spink, John Musselwhite, Leslie Braithwaite, Andrew Treves, Phil Deaves, Ian Bromley, Richard Weller, Tony Harker, Andy Foster, Tony Fox, Jim Allwood, Mike Rogers, Chris Gibbard

The terminus is Hull Paragon. The MKM Stadium is in the middle, home of Hull City FC and Hull FC (rugby league).

Up until the 1880s, Hull was a North Eastern Railway monopoly, but growth of the port was held back by NER's inertia. The local council's frustration led to it providing considerable financial support to a rival undertaking to build a new rail link and the huge Alexandra Docks. The Hull & Barnsley opened in 1885 and had its own passenger terminus at Cannon Street.

The 1923 Grouping brought the NER and H&B together, and led to duplicate lines being rationalised. But the H&B loop to Alexandra Docks - shown in both images - remains open and, indeed, was recently doubled to increase capacity.

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