The Bank branch of the London Underground’s Northern Line has reopened after a 17-week closure, and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was at Bank station yesterday to celebrate the event. The closure was part of a wider scheme to increase capacity at Bank by 40 per cent, and the station has gained a new Northern Line tunnel, an additional concourse, three new passages and a wider southbound Northern Line platform. The project involved about 550 construction staff. TfL is planning more improvements to be completed later this year, including step-free access to the Northern Line platforms, better access to the Docklands Light Railway, two additional travelators, 12 escalators and five new lifts.

Freight vehicles tags to reduce wheelset failures

More than 15,000 freight wagons and locomotives are to be fitted with radio frequency identification tags so that the condition of their wheelsets can be monitored. A major derailment and fire was caused near Llangennech in Carmarthenshire on 26 August 2020 after the wheelset on a tank wagon had become locked. Some 30,000 tags will be fitted, paid for by the Freight Safety Improvement Portfolio. When the tagged train passes one of 22 trackside readers data about each wheelset will be captured. Engineers will then be able to review the data and take action if necessary.

Heathrow Express highlights world cities

Heathrow Express has unveiled twelve newly-named vehicles on its Class 387 fleet at London Paddington. Each coach now bears the name of a world city and artwork reflecting their individual skylines. The names were chosen by entrants to a radio station competition, and the winning places were London, New York, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Sydney, Dublin, Prague, Tokyo, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

CIRO announces conference dates

The Chartered Institution of Railway Operators has published the dates for its two-day annual conference, which will include various industry experts over 14 and 15 June. The Rail Ops 2022 event is being held virtually and members will be able to develop their knowledge in the 13 areas of CIRO’s professional operators’ development tool, POD. It is also open to non-members.