Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 10th May 2024.
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Friday, 10th May 2024
Belfast’s city centre railway station will close on Friday to make way for the opening of a new public transport hub later this year.
An article on the BBC website says the last train will leave Great Victoria Street station at 11.32pm this evening.
It means there will be no city centre rail service for at least three months.
The new transport hub, Belfast Grand Central Station, is not due to open until the autumn.
Andy Burnham has given his strongest hint yet that the Metrolink network will be extended to Stockport.
An article on the Manchester Evening News says appearing on BBC Radio Manchester’s ‘In The Hotseat’ phone-in for the first time since he was re-elected as mayor with nearly two-thirds of the vote, the Labour politician was quizzed by host Mike Sweeney on his plans to use money re-allocated from the now-cancelled HS2 railway line to Manchester.
He asked: “There appears to be enough money heading this way from HS2 for two tram lines — where are they going to be?”
When asked specifically about a line to Stockport, he said: “I would like to see them built in the decade.” “The [government approval] can be done fairly soon. We do have a fairly generous capital allocation for Greater Manchester [from the government].
“The new Stockport Interchange has been built with tram capability. We have to continue extending Metrolink.”
A new approach to transport ticketing offers a step towards an integrated, transparent system that works efficiently for both ticket providers and passengers across all modes of transport
Traditional ticketing systems are based on solutions that are vulnerable to issues including a lack of transferability across multi-modal transport networks, and an inability to adapt to policy changes and new technologies.
Experts at the University of Birmingham have outlined a system that offers a new foundation for all ticketing providers. In a new paper, published in IET Blockchain, STUB (System for Ticketing Ubiquity within Blockchains) brings together the capabilities of two versatile technologies – blockchain and ontology.
Construction of the HS2 tunnel network is over halfway done, marking a milestone for the new high-speed line in Britain.
An article on The Business Desk says two out of five of the twin-bore tunnels are finished, and work on two more is well underway on the line which is being built at 350 different sites between London and the West Midlands.
The tunnels will cover 27.4 miles in total, almost a fifth of the whole 140-mile route.
