Plans are underway for nearly 300 additional trains to pass through Cheltenham Spa railway station each week, thanks to a £1.75 billion hub project. Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson met with Midlands Connect and rail executives on Wednesday to discuss the plans.

The Midlands Rail Hub project, valued at £1.75 billion, is set to provide approximately four million extra seats annually for passengers travelling between Cheltenham and Birmingham. This will be achieved by adding an extra four trains per hour on the route, two in each direction.

In 2023, the previous Government pledged full delivery of the Midlands Rail Hub, and in February last year, an additional £123m was allocated towards the project for detailed engineering designs. Construction is slated to run from 2025 to 2033.

Max Wilkinson said: "Cheltenham's rail connections are very important for our local economy. Improved links are vital for our town – primarily for business travellers, but also for leisure trips.

"Whether it's to the Midlands, towards Bristol, the North or London, we'll benefit from easier access to and from our town.

"I'm interested to hear more about the positive opportunities offered by the Midlands Rail Hub and other future Improvements too."

Paul Butters, director of communications at Midlands Connect, said: "It was great to meet Max, brief him on the plans and explain how the Midlands Rail Hub could deliver a massive transport boost for the town.

"Delivering faster and more frequent trains to Cheltenham would make a massive difference and we are working hard to deliver it.

"I look forward to working with Max in the months and years ahead to deliver this vital scheme for the region."

The meeting also included representatives from the West Midlands Rail Executive.

No, it's one of their 'stock photos of a train' at Bristol Temple Meads again, isn't it? 

Uncontrolled evacuation of a partially platformed train at Clapham Common London Underground station, 5 May 2023.

Summary
At around 17:43 hrs on Friday 5 May 2023, a London Underground train departing from Clapham Common station was brought to a halt by a passenger emergency alarm activation after smoke and a smell of burning entered the train. The train came to a stand with two cars inside the tunnel and four cars adjacent to the platform. The train’s doors remained closed. Around 100 of the train’s (estimated) 500 passengers subsequently self-evacuated onto the platform through the interconnecting doors between the train’s cars and the train’s windows, some of which were broken by passengers either inside the train or on the station platform. Station staff began opening the train’s doors around four and a half minutes after the train came to a stand.

The incident resulted in minor injuries being reported by a few passengers. However, it had the potential to have more serious consequences, not least because Clapham Common station has a narrow island platform which increases the risk of passengers falling onto the track and potentially being exposed to conductor rails and trains approaching on the adjacent southbound line.

RAIB’s investigation found that passengers perceived a significant risk from fire, and that they became increasingly alarmed when the train’s doors remained closed and they did not receive suitable information or see any effective action from London Underground staff.

An underlying factor to the incident was that operational staff were not provided with the procedures or training needed to effectively identify and manage incidents where passenger behaviour can rapidly escalate. A possible underlying factor was that London Underground did not fully apply and retain learning from a previous similar incident at Holland Park station. Additionally, a further possible underlying factor was that London Underground had not identified the risk of passenger self-evacuation from partially platformed trains, including those taking place at narrow island platforms.

Recommendations
RAIB has made three recommendations, all addressed to London Underground. The first relates to procedures and training to ensure that staff have clear guidance on how to deal with out-of-course events. The second relates to learning from previous incidents not being lost and to recommendations being tracked through to implementation. The third recommendation is that London Underground review its risk assessment processes so that the risks associated with out-of-course events and at specific locations are effectively identified and assessed.

Published 8 May 2024

Should funiculars be included?

I've said it before but rather than a frightening will be cancelled from the earlier report which has a degree of finality about it, and suggests it's not even worth checking back later, could we have a may be cancelled early caution system - rather like signals are not just red and green, but red, amber and green?

In the end it left on time

The Oxford swing bridge I believe is an ancient monument, rather than heritage rail.

The problem is not just passport checking but the need to scan all luggage. I use Eurostar 4 or 6 times a year and the security check always takes far longer than passport control. I wonder if these checks are really necessary. The Gotthard base tunnel is longer that the Channel tunnel and checks are not considered necessary for that.

From the BBC:

14:47 Westbury to Swindon due 15:34

14:47 Westbury to Swindon due 15:34 will be starting late from Westbury and is expected to be 15 minutes late.
This is due to train crew being delayed by service disruption.

Didcot collapse probe 'in latter stages', police say



The investigation into the deaths of four men in the collapse at Didcot Power Station nine years ago is moving "towards the latter stages", police have said.

On 23 February 2016 part of the old boiler house at the Didcot A plant collapsed, killing Ken Cresswell, John Shaw, Michael Collings and Christopher Huxtable.

Demolition News editor Mark Anthony said it was "a national disgrace" that their families were still waiting for answers.

Thames Valley Police said its joined investigation with the Health and Safety Executive "continues to make meaningful progress". The force said it was "actively investigating" offences of corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter and Health and Safety at Work Act offences.


John Shaw, Christopher Huxtable, Michael Collings and Ken Cresswell (clockwise from top left) died in the collapse nine years ago

It took more than six months for the men's bodies to be recovered and family members of the victims previously said they were finding waiting for the investigation to conclude "really hard".

Last year, Mr Anthony started a petition calling for a pubic inquiry into the time it has taken. "Unfortunately, it is not without precedent," he said, comparing it to the investigations into Hillsborough and Grenfell. "There's been no pressure from the Home Office or the home secretary to make the police at Thames Valley... get everything resolved any quicker."

"To date, the investigation team has collated and analysed over 6,500 exhibits, 90,000 images, and 230,000 digital media artefacts," Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs said. "Over 180 hours of video recorded witness and suspect interviews have been conducted, in addition to the 2,812 statements taken."  He said while "a specific timeframe" for its conclusion could not be specified, they were "confident that we are moving towards the latter stages" of enquiries. "Our officers continue to provide regular updates to the families on the investigation progress, as well as to the Crown Prosecution Service."

Mr Anthony said: "The entire demolition world is looking to the UK, Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive for some answers, so that they can send in men and women to work safely. And nine years later, we still can't do that."

Olly Glover, the newly elected MP for Didcot and Wantage, said he was "putting pressure" on the police to make progress. "But also the investigation does need to be allowed to conclude in a way that gets all of the evidence to the surface," he said.

Site owner RWE Power said "Our thoughts remain with the families of the four men who died in this tragic incident. We continue to cooperate fully with Thames Valley Police."

The Home Office said it would not comment while the investigation was ongoing.

A few years back there was a Sunday train from Westbury which was timetabled to terminate at Melksham and then return.  However in the end it was extended to Chippenham as it was reported you couldn't turn a train at Melksham as it "confused" the axle counters.   Perhaps that is no longer the case.