The growing movement to reverse some of the infamous 'Beeching cuts' of 1963 has received a £500 million boost from government. Dr Richard Beeching published his report “The Reshaping of British Railways” on 27 March 1963. It proposed the closure of 2,363 stations and...

The collapse of the railway at Dawlish during a severe storm in February 2014 hit the headlines as Cornwall was cut off from the rest of the UK by rail. Just eight weeks later, the railway was once again open and transport links to the far west...

Christmas is a special time of year. To religious Christians, it’s a time for celebration and worship. To others, it’s a time for celebration, family and parties. And to railway workers, it’s a time to get dressed up in orange protective clothing and actually go to work...

Leeds is vibrant and thriving, its cityscape undergoing perpetual transformation as glass and steel are jemmied into gaps between historic buildings - industrial, commercial, civic - many of which are, in turn, evolving for modern city living. London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Glasgow:...

One of the many projects that took place over the Christmas period involved the Great Western main line between London and Slough. There was no major headline project, but the opportunity of the two-day train service shutdown was taken to do some important renewal and enhancement work....

Apart from the electrification of the section of route from London St. Pancras to Bedford in the late 1970s, the Midland main line has had few upgrades of any significance throughout its existence, until the current major MML Upgrade which is now well underway.

Over Christmas, part of the East Coast main line moved 20 metres westwards as enabling works for the £200 million Werrington Grade Separation project to construct an underpass at Werrington Junction near Peterborough. The existing Werrington junction layout causes constraints on increasing the frequency...

Following energisation of the overhead line equipment between St Brides, Newport, and west of Cardiff Central, the first GWR electric train arrived at Cardiff on Tuesday 7 January 2020. This was the culmination of the major portion of a truly strategic electrification project as Brunel’s Great Western...

Experienced railway professionals know that permanent way renewals consume prodigious quantities of ballast. They also know that serious thought has to be given to the moving and distribution of ballast throughout a site. For a conventional two-track railway, the normal option is to use...

Guest writer: John Harding, technical director architecture, major and international projects at WSP For around fifty years, the rail industry has implemented design processes that are not always aligned with...

In spring 2019 (issue 179, June 2019), Rail Engineer reported on the considerable work that was being undertaken at Market Harborough on the Midland main line; not just on the route itself but also on the station and surrounding area.  Since that visit, the...