The May 2022 issue of Today's Railways UK is full of interesting articles and features covering all aspects of Britain’s railways, plus all the very latest news from across Britain’s railway network. This month we look in depth at new trains on Britain’s railways, but we also include all our regular monthly sections covering light rail, heritage railways, preservation and railtours, with readers’ letters and our grumpy old man also in attendance.
Feature articles this month include:
Northern Sets Out Its Priorities: Northern's Regional Director (East), Tony Baxter and Regional Stakeholder Manager East and North-East, Pete Myers gave a presentation to the Railfuture Yorkshire branch on 4 March giving an update on how the business was performing, how Northern is continuing to recover after the pandemic and its challenges going forward - in particular initial thoughts about renewing its ageing fleet.
18 Years for Nottingham's Trams: The city of Nottingham is perhaps best known for its association with the lace industry and the legendary outlaw Robin Hood, but another claim to fame is that it has (at least to date) England's newest tramway. The Nottingham Express Transit (NET) system was 18 years old in March, and so far no more new tramways have opened in England (with only one having opened in the rest of the UK, in Edinburgh in 2014). To coincide with the recent publication of the third in our new series of books profiling the UK's tramway systems, Alan Yearsley and Robert Pritchard provide a brief summary of the NET story to date, together with a selection of photos for which there wasn't room in the book.
Carstairs: A Key Railway Junction: The station at Carstairs is situated on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) just under 30 miles south of Glasgow and its located in a triangle of lines. The railway around this area has changed significantly over the years; however, it still remains a key junction to this day. Stuart Fowler looks at how traffic through Carstairs has changed over the last 15 years and at the best photographic locations.
The Class 442 "Wessex Electric" Story: Chris Booth looks back at the lives and operations of the Network SouthEast's Class 442 "Wessex Electric" EMUs, widely regarded as one of BR's better express multiple units but dispensed with last year by South Western Railway, despite millions having been spent on their refurbishment.
News stories this month include:
- RAIB: Faulty drainage work led to Carmont derailment
- ASLEF calls for withdrawal of HSTs
- New three-year deal for GTR
- More Sunday strikes on TPE
- ORR to prosecute TfL for Croydon tram derailment
- 42 towns and cities bid to host GBR HQ
- Elizabeth Line in final pre-opening tests
- Khan visits Siemens in Goole
- HS2 drops "fungal toenail" design for Euston terminal
- TPE Class 802 derails at Heaton depot
- Portsmouth line resignalling contract awarded to Alstom
- DCR stone trial from Newton Abbot
- Oxford remodelling a step nearer
- £35m upgrade of East Midlands Railway's Derby Etches Park depot under way
- TfN issues Blueprint for future Manchester rail capacity
- Moveable overhead conductor system overcomes barrier to net zero rail freight
- Regular traffic to Winfrith restarts
- Track laid in new Blackford terminal
- St Ives platform extensions to allow 5-car trains
- Cracks cause West Midlands Metro services to be suspended for a third time
- Two-week closure of North Tyneside Loop
- Converting Class 66s to dual fuel could cut carbon emissions by ~80%
- South Devon Railway to repair and repaint Colas power car
- Coal crisis hits heritage lines
- Distillery development delays Strathspey Rails to Grantown project
- Future of Lavender Line Class 309 secured
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