January 2011: Contents
Feature headlines
- Rail Professional interview: Ailie MacAdam
Crossrail Central’s commercial manager Ailie MacAdam tells Katie Silvester why the scheme is the most exciting civil engineering project in town, and how costs are being monitored to make sure it doesn’t go over budget
- Electrification needs to reach Wales
Philip Hammond’s statement on railway investment (see News analysis, pages 14-15) is largely good news for the industry…
- About the size of it
Potential changes to passenger franchises are being hotly debated. Should they be longer? Shorter? And should franchisees take more responsibility for infrastructure? Robert Wright looks at the arguments
- Metro takes centre stage
After more than 15 years of planning, business case preparation, funding applications and setbacks, the extension of Birmingham’s Midland Metro into the city centre has finally been approved. In a surprise move, the new coalition government gave the scheme the green light as part of its Comprehensive Spending Review. Peter Plisner reports
- Academic pursuits
The government has put up the initial funding for a rail engineering academy. Andrew Mourant finds out what the National Skills Academy for Rail Engineering will be offering
- Unfair fare disclosure
Atoc has been criticised for poor handling of the fares announcement. Passengers have only been told the average increase across the industry, with operators left to decide what they will disclose about increases, says Paula Bedminster
- Answer is in the pipeline
The expense of moving utilities is just one of the costs that makes tram projects in the UK so expensive. Alan Salter finds out how our cousins on the Continent manage to build tram networks far more cheaply than the UK can
- Classic response
There is great excitement about High Speed Two. But, says Phil Mortimer, there is more capacity that could be squeezed out of the ‘classic’ lines, which could save the cost of building HS2 altogether
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