The public are being asked for their opinions in a consultation launched today about proposals to provide more trains in the Swansea Bay area, but Transport for Wales has admitted that its plans for developing two routes and opening stations will depend on financial support from London. The proposals have been unveiled only a few days after the Welsh Government protested about the lack of funding for Wales in the Budget.

The Budget proposals have angered the Welsh Government, which said: ‘Promises by the UK Government to deliver a 14 billion pound commitment to put right decades of rail underfunding have been kicked further down the tracks.’ Deputy minister for transport Mark Hooper said 30 million pounds for Cardiff Parkway was ‘an insult to the people of Wales’.

Several major railway schemes have been given the green light by Chancellor John Healey, but critics say more attention needs to be paid to rail freight. The Chancellor’s list included the Bakerloo Line extension from Elephant & Castle into south east London, which was recognised as a ‘key infrastructure project’. Also mentioned was Stratford International, which may see international trains at last, along with a further 200 million pounds to upgrade Leeds station as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade and Northern Powerhouse Rail, while West Midlands Metro is also to be extended.

The new station at Beaulieu Park in Chelmsford has attracted twice as many passengers as expected in its first year. Over 800,000 passengers have been recorded since the station opened on 26 October 2025, although the initial first-year projections were between 290,000 and 390,000.

There will be no trains at Dagenham Dock, Rainham or Purfleet until further notice, after a GB Railfreight container train was derailed at Barking. The accident, on Friday afternoon, damaged about 1.2km of track, and engineers have been working over the weekend to remove the train and then assess the repairs which will be needed.

Train services on a number of routes in Scotland, Wales and northern England are still suspended this morning, as engineers continue to repair damage caused over the weekend by Storm Boelo. Some other lines have reduced services.

Trains have been cancelled on a number of routes after Storm Austen arrived overnight. Great Western Railway, Northern, Greater Thameslink Railway, CrossCountry, South Western Railway, Transport for Wales and ScotRail are all reporting problems.

Great Western Railway has warned that it will be reducing services in Devon and Cornwall tomorrow, as Storm Austen could bring gusts of 60mph (96km/h) or more in Cornwall and west Devon. The Met. Office has issued an amber weather warning which applies between 03.00 and 10.00, and speed restrictions will be imposed between the start of service and 13.00. Some trains will be cancelled, particularly early in the day.

LNER managing director David Horne has been named as the integrated chief customer and commercial officer at Great British Railways. He was formerly the managing director of East Midlands Trains and then joined Virgin Trains East Coast. When that franchise failed in 2018, he was appointed to run VTEC’s nationalised successor LNER and will now start his new job next month.

The station at Bradford Interchange is to be rebuilt, replacing a structure which dates from the 1970s. Interchange is one of two stations in the city centre. It was opened in 1973, replacing the larger Bradford Exchange, and includes a bus station. It is now used by intercity services as well as local and regional trains.

Rail passengers who play music out loud on their phones or computers, or make loudspeaker calls, are the targets of a new campaign from today to get them to turn it down. Railway byelaws already allow staff to remove such passengers, who can also be fined up to 1000 pounds, but new publicity is going to be given these powers, using the slogan ‘share the carriage, not the noise’.

Sir John Kingman has been named as the first Chair of Great British Railways. Sir John will begin his duties immediately. The Government said he will play a ‘critical role’ in shaping the design of the new organisation, continuing the integration of train and track operations, as the Railways Bill continues its passage through Parliament.

Passengers have made more than 2,000,000 journeys on the Northumberland Line less than two years after it opened. The line has 416 services a week along the route, a 29km freight line which was reopened to passengers in December 2024. Six stations were built and more than 26km of track was renewed, although the opening of some stations was delayed by local problems.

The headquarters of Great British Railways in Derby will be in the city centre. Work will begin at Becketwell, a brownfield site, early in the New Year. It is set to be completed by spring 2029. The shadow GBR has been using temporary quarters at Pride Park, and the possible site for the permanent HQ had been narrowed down to two locations. The alternative, Midland House, is close to Derby station.

CrossCountry will lease eight more Class 221 Voyagers from early next year. Six of the units have been cascaded from Avanti West Coast, and two have been released by Grand Central.

One casualty of privatisation was probably unexpected -- the names of stations. Sim Harris discusses the confusion on our platforms.

The Office of Rail and Road has launched a consultation on a draft Retail Code of Practice that is intended to create a level playing field for sellers of tickets. At the moment, 14 separate operators run their own websites and apps, and these will be replaced by Great British Railways. However, independent retailers will continue, including open access and devolved operators in Scotland and Wales.

The rail regulator has turned down two more open access applications, on the grounds that there is not enough capacity on the West Coast Main Line. The ORR had been considering proposals for four return services between London and Wrexham from the Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway Company. It has also refused Lumo’s plans for up to four daily trains between London and Rochdale and an application from Avanti West Coast for more paths between London and Blackpool.

Another open access application has reached the end of the line, with the news that Grand Central has abandoned its proposal to run services from Cleethorpes, saying that the plan is ‘no longer commercially viable’. Sim Harris asks if the era of domestic open access is coming to a close.

Over 400 thousand journeys have been made at Cambridge South station since it opened 100 days ago, dramatically improving the way people travel to and from Europe’s largest biomedical campus. The new station is heading towards annual patronage figures of 1.6 million journeys, well on the way towards the 1.8 million expected in the medium term.