Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Thursday, 29th February 2024.
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Thursday, 29th February 2024
Design work on the Midlands Rail Hub is set to begin, the government has said.
An article on the BBC website says an additional £123 million has been allocated towards the project, which the government says will increase capacity at Birmingham Moor Street station and reduce congestion on routes around the city.
Transport secretary Mark Harper said the Midlands Rail Hub project will bring “huge benefits” to passengers in the region.
The government added that the first phase of the proposals would mean an extra train every hour in both directions between central Birmingham and places including Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham and Worcester.
Journeys along 100 of Britain’s busiest business routes create significantly less carbon emissions when they are made by train rather than car, according to the next phase of Green Travel Pledge carbon emission passenger data.
Data developed by the Rail Delivery Group shows that, on average across the top 100 business travel routes, taking the train for business travel produces nine times less carbon than going by diesel or petrol car. It creates more than four times less carbon than using a plug-in hybrid electric car, and almost two-and-a-half times less carbon than using a battery electric car.
Rail passengers in Devon and Cornwall are being warned of widespread disruption on the network due to a major signalling upgrade.
An article on the BBC website says Network Rail said a “once-in-a-generation” engineering project would see 66 miles (106km) of track between Plymouth and St Erth upgraded with digital signalling.
Thirteen days of work in Cornwall are expected to be completed by 10 March.
Work then resumes near Plymouth from 16 to 21 March.
GB Railfreight has announced that it has signed a deal extension with Alvance British Aluminium.
An article on Rail Advent says the five-year extension will see GBRf continue to run two trains a week.
The trains transport alumina powder from the Port of Blyth in Northumberland to Fort William, where it is used to make aluminium at one of the world’s greenest metal production plants.
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