Temporary chief appointed for ORR
An interim chief executive has been appointed at the Office of Rail and Road to replace John Larkinson, who was at the centre of a controversy during the autumn of last year when the ORR proposed to withdraw the popular 07.00 Avanti West Coast service from Manchester to London from January, replacing it with an empty stock working which would still have departed from Piccadilly each morning with a full crew.
The exhibition train which has been touring Britain in celebration of Railway 200 is nearing the end of the line, as its last few calling points are announced. The ‘Inspiration’ train started its tour last summer at the Severn Valley Railway, and has since welcomed thousands of visitors. It is currently at Minehead on the West Somerset Railway and will then visit Cornwall for the only time by going to Newquay between 6 and 11 April.
Frustrated residents in the Buckinghamshire town of Winslow are setting up an Action Group, as there appears to be no end in sight to the deadlock which is preventing scheduled passenger trains running between Oxford, Bletchley and Milton Keynes. The restored section of line between Bicester and Bletchley was completed in 2024 and approved by ORR inspectors in October of that year, but so far the only trains have been freight workings and test runs, apart from one or two passenger charters.
The Office of Rail and Road has authorised Bedlington station in Northumberland, which is set to open on 29 March. It will be the last station to be reopened on the route between Newcastle and Ashington.
The Department for Transport has published the details of agreements between Westminster and the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales which will apply under Great British Railways. New memorandums of understanding agreed by transport secretary Heidi Alexander provide for joint control, although the Scottish version is only a ‘framework’ at this stage.
Train services from Glasgow Central High Level have been restored, after a closure which began on 8 March because of a fire which destroyed a building next to the station. All platforms are now back in use, although part of the concourse is still cordoned off.
Trains on HS2 could run more slowly as a result of cost-saving changes to the project. The planned maximum line speed of 360km/h may be abandoned in favour of 320km/h at the most. The rethink has been ordered by transport secretary Heidi Alexander, who is instructing HS2 CEO Mark Wild to examine various options which could mean that the line could be opened sooner, and at lower cost.