Greater Britain Rail News Round-Up (14/01/2009)

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Furious commuters in Sussex have signed a petition against changes to peak time trains (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7826640.stm

Eurostar achieved record traveller numbers and ticket sales in 2008 following the first full year of operations on High Speed 1 (links below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7825737.stm

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eeae40b0-e156-11dd-afa0-0000779fd2ac.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/13/eurostar-passengers-record-rise

http://www.transportbriefing.co.uk/story.php?id=5453

http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/business/2009/01/13-eurostar-record-profits.html

http://www.abtn.co.uk/news/eurostar-breaks-passenger-records

Passengers who buy a London train or tube ticket would automatically be giving their consent to be searched, under proposals now under consideration (links below.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/13/knife-crime-police-gang-violence

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Train_travel_%91only_if_you%92re_searched%92&in_article_id=476014&in_page_id=34

Tensions between First and Network Rail in Scotland (link below.)
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Alastair-Dalton-Who39s-blaming-who.4868168.jp

Passenger groups welcomed the decision by transport minister Lord Adonis to order South West Trains to scale back plans to cut ticket office opening hours at 114 stations. SWT^▸ (South West Trains) expressed "disappointment" that most of its proposals had been rejected, though more limited reductions in opening hours will be allowed (links below.)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23618118-details/Passengers+welcome+move+to+curb+closure+of+rail+ticket+offices/article.do

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=389455&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/transport/display.var.2481469.0.Plan_to_cut_hours_of_rail_ticket_offices_is_rejected.php

http://www.abtn.co.uk/press-releases/passenger-focus-welcomes-decision-save-ticket-offices-press-release

D-day looms for a West Yorkshire transport plan that includes electrification, a new railway station and tram-trains (link below.)
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Dday-looms-for-Leeds-transport.4868669.jp

The head of Alstom has claimed that Chinese companies are offering trains for export that use technology derived from western suppliers, usually supplied on condition that it is not used outside China (link below.)
http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/international/2009/01/11-china-western-technology.html

National Rail Enquiries and lastminute.com join forces to offer a hotel booking service for customers planning their rail journey (link below.)
http://www.atoc-comms.org/dynamic/atocpress-story.php?atoc=997894

A rail worker has won ^200,000 in compensation after a tribunal found that Network Rail sacked him because he reported unsafe working practices which led to a colleague being injured (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/7829340.stm

Plans to cut 300 rail jobs are being challenged by five East Anglian MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament). The politicians, led by Norwich North MP Ian Gibson, want National Express East Anglia to reverse its plans to cut the jobs on its rail network (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7828351.stm

A jury has been shown CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) footage of a woman and her partner about half an hour before the mother-of-two was killed by a train on a crossing at Hythe railway station (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7829444.stm

The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Corporation (BTMUCC) has launched a new rolling stock leasing company called Beacon Rail (link below.)
http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-rosco.html