Theresa May has joined Great Western Railway’s stakeholder advisory board, which is an independent external body. Mrs May was Prime Minister between 2016 and 2019, and is MP for Maidenhead. She was invited to join the board by Lord Faulkner of Worcester, who chairs the 12-strong group. Mrs May said: ‘I know how important reliable rail services are for my Maidenhead constituents and others across the Thames Valley, therefore I welcome this opportunity.’ She has already attended her first meeting, which she described as ‘excellent’. She added: ‘I am looking forward to working with the Board.’

Newly-nationalised ScotRail welcomes cyclists

All ScotRail trains now have bike spaces, since 140 extra spaces were installed on 70 Hitachi Class 385 units. In 2015 ScotRail trains offered 932 cycle spaces and now there are 1,406. ScotRail said it will be boosting the total still further this summer. ScotRail was taken over by the Scottish Government at the beginning of April, after the Abellio contract was terminated.

Fire Service College gets redundant Mk4s

Coaches from the East Coast Main Line have started a new life helping to train students at the Fire Service College. The three Mk4s have been made redundant by the introduction of Intercity Expresses on LNER, and the old coaches have been supplied by their owner Eversholt Rail. The College provides training to help fire crews, including incident commanders, to deal with incidents on railways.

Greater Anglia provides Easter cheer for children in hospital

Railway staff working for Greater Anglia have delivered more than 450 Easter eggs to children spending this weekend in hospital in East Anglia. Passengers responded to an appeal last month by donating Easter eggs at Bishop’s Stortford, Harlow Town, Stansted Airport, Sawbridgeworth and Cambridge North stations. About 255 eggs have been given to the children’s ward at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, while an extra £150 was raised to buy activity kits with colouring books and pens. A special Easter hamper was also given to the doctors, nurses and ward staff.