Posted 13th April 2022 | 1 Comment
£7.6m fund for railway innovations
The government has made £7.6 million available for new technology to improve the railways. Rail minister Wendy Morton has announced this year’s First of Kind competition, which invites bids from companies specialising in innovative ways to modernise rail. In partnership with Innovate UK, this year’s competition will award up to £7.6 million to projects creating ideas that are intended to improve rail travel and reduce carbon emissions. The competition will run from 20 April until 8 June.
Opening date set for Reston station
Scottish transport minister Jenny Gilruth has announced that the restored station at Reston will open on 23 May. The two-platform station will be fully accessible, and replaces the original station at Reston which was closed in 1964. Reston is on the East Coast Main Line in Berwickshire, between Dunbar and Berwick-upon-Tweed. The project was the result of a £20 million investment by the Scottish Government and includes 70 park and ride car parking spaces.
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david c smith, Bletchley
One thing that was claimed to justfy privatisation in 1994 - ish was that the TOC's would be free to innovate, backed up with access to investment capital markets.
A series of governments have made something of a "dog's dinner"of this ever since. It doesn't thrill me to see what appears to be another attempt at gathering all decision making power to the centre . The evidence seems to show that government needs to be an optimum size to be most efficient, typically serving a greater Birmingham or Manchester. The DfT ought to be considering how best to incentivise the TOCs, FOCs and ROSCOs , not trying to run it all themselves.