Teenager loses sight in eye after detonator explosion

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A 15-year-old boy has lost the sight in his right eye following an accident with a railway detonator at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

The boy and two friends, who were playing at a skate park, are thought to have entered a nearby railway depot and taken a box of detonators which they then threw onto a bonfire.

At least one of the detonators exploded causing the boy severe facial injuries.

Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of theft and are currently at Southend police station.

The injured boy was taken to Southend Hospital to undergo surgery.

DC Michael Bute from British Transport Police Southend said: “This is a tragic incident, which has had very serious consequences for the youngster involved.

“It does serve to highlight the dangers of trespassing onto any part of the rail network that is not meant for public access.”

Yorkshire Dales Walking for All Festival receives special train from Northern Rail

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Northern Rail conductors, who work on services passing through Settle, will be stepping in the right direction in aid of Jane Tomlinson’s Walk for All Yorkshire Dales Walking Festival.

The UK’s largest train operator will be running a special ‘Jane Tomlinson’ service on Sunday 19 August, leaving Leeds at 07.00 and arriving into Settle in time for pre-walk registration. The train will return for the intrepid adventurers at 17.00 to help deliver the weary walkers back from the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

Services will also have extra carriages in order to carry more passengers than usual with over 2,500 walkers expected to turn out and enjoy some of the Yorkshire Dales National Park’s most stunning scenery. The company will be donating all revenue from each return ticket sold, directly to The Jane Tomlinson Appeal.

Richard Allan, Area Director, Northern Rail comments: “We’re hoping our conductors on the Settle to Carlisle line will be able to tot up enough steps to cover the distance of one of the routes ramblers will walk on the 19 August. It’s a tough challenge, but we think they’re up to it!

It might come as a surprise to some to discover just how many miles they cover walking up and down the carriage.

Event Director, Sara Birkinshaw, said: “We’re thrilled to be back for the second year in Settle for the Yorkshire Dales Walking Festival. The Tomlinson family have a real soft spot for the area so it’s a special event on our For All Events calendar. We hope that walkers across the country will embrace the festival as they did last year and we break all our records for another great day in August this year.

“The Yorkshire Dales Walking Festival routes really do offer a true Walk For All – a day out in wonderful countryside that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of their age and fitness levels. And, thanks to Northern Rail, our walkers can enjoy a hassle-free journey to and from the Dales, making this a perfect day out for all of the family.”

Northern is also providing extra carriages on the following services:

  • 08.40 Leeds to Morecambe (this will call at Giggleswick where Northern will provide a coach service to Settle)
  • 12.20 Morecambe to Leeds (again with coach service from Settle to Giggleswick)
  • 16.37 Carlisle to Leeds service
  • 23.15 Skipton to Leeds service

Northern Rail are urging walkers who want to catch the ‘Jane Tomlinson’ train to book now to secure their seat at www.walkforall.com.”

 

Crossrails Wallasea Island RSPB nature reserve ready thanks to BAM Nuttall

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Crossrail has taken another step towards the creation of a new 1,500 acre RSPB nature reserve with the completion of a new 180 metre jetty at Wallasea Island in Essex.  The jetty will receive in the order of 4.5 million tonnes of material excavated during Crossrail’s tunnelling operations in London.

Wallasea Island Wild Coast project is a landmark conservation and engineering scheme, on a scale never before attempted in the UK and the largest of its type in Europe. The aim of this project is to combat the threats from climate change and coastal flooding by recreating the ancient wetland landscape of mudflats and saltmarsh, lagoons and pasture. It will also help to compensate for the loss of such tidal habitats elsewhere in England.

The jetty, constructed by BAM Nuttall, comprises two 800 tonne steel pontoons, each 15 metres wide, and is able to accommodate two 90 metre, 2,500 tonne ships simultaneously.  At peak, two unloading machines per pontoon will service four ships and unload up to 10,000 tonnes of material over a 24 hour period.

An 800 metre conveyor system to transport the material within the site has also been completed. The conveyor stretches from the jetty to a holding point for the excavated material, from which the material will be distributed around the site by truck.

Excavated material will be unloaded directly from the ship on to the conveyor system. To accommodate tidal movements of up to six metres, the conveyor comprises a flexible section on the pontoon connecting to a fixed shore section.

The RSPB nature reserve will be one of the largest new wetland nature habitats in Europe, providing an environment specifically tailored for fish, reptiles, insects, mammals and birds and acting as a tourist attraction and recreational resource for local people.

Siobán Wall, Crossrail’s Wallasea Project Manager said: “Construction of the Crossrail jetty at Wallasea Island is now complete and ready to receive the first shipments of excavated material later this summer. This is an important milestone in the use of rail and ship to sustainably transport excavated material from London to create a new RSPB nature reserve.”

Excavated material from Crossrail’s western tunnels will be transported by freight train to Northfleet where it will be transferred to ship for onward journey to Wallasea Island.  The first trainload of material ran from Westbourne Park in May; at the peak of tunnelling up to five freight trains a day will operate. The first of over 2,000 ship loads to Wallasea Island will arrive later this summer.

Elsewhere along the Crossrail route, the first consignment of excavated material from the construction of Liverpool Street station into Crossrail’s new Docklands Transfer Site at Barking Riverside jetty occurred on 1 June. Excavated material from Crossrail’s station and shaft works will also be shipped to Wallasea from this site.

Shipments of excavated material from the eastern running tunnels access shafts at Limmo Peninsula to Wallasea will commence from Instone Wharf (directly opposite Greenwich Peninsula and the 02) following dredging operations and the construction of a new ship loading facility.

Station parking projects

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Passengers are set to benefit from £15m of improvements to car parking facilities at stations across England after four schemes made successful bids for rail industry funding.

The successful projects, to be delivered by the train operators, will see single and multi-decked car parking extensions at four stations where demand for car parking has outgrown available facilities.

Banbury Station on the M40 corridor looks set to be the biggest winner for Chiltern Railways with construction of a new 707 space multi story car park, Harpenden Station is next with a single deck extension allowing upto 220 additional cars on the busy First Capital Connect.  South West Trains Winchester Station is next with a single deck car park extension allowing another 113 cars and Hatfield Peverel on the Greater Anglian franchise will see a single deck extension providing an additional 100 car parking spaces.

The schemes are part of the third and final wave of successful bids from a £100m station improvement fund, launched in 2011 by Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). To be eligible, proposals must have a benefit to passengers and also reduce the overall public subsidy for rail by generating a financial return to the Department for Transport.

Rail Minister Norman Baker said: “This is good news for commuters, and good news for the railway. Adding capacity to heavily used station car parks makes it more likely people will park the car and take the train rather than try to drive the whole way. This initiative fits in well with the work we are doing to make the door to door journey smoother and lower in carbon.”

Robin Gisby, managing director, network operations at Network Rail, said: “This is a great example of the rail industry working together to improve the passenger experience without increasing the burden on the taxpayer. We have now allocated almost £100m towards projects which will improve passengers’ experience of travelling by rail and help us deliver a better value for money railway.”

Alec McTavish, director of policy and planning at ATOC, said: “The whole industry is committed to working together more effectively to deliver a better railway for passengers and a more efficient railway for taxpayers.

“The improvements made now will raise the value of rail franchises overall, which will generate more money for the Government and reduce the need for taxpayer subsidy in the future. We have been impressed at each stage of this programme with the innovative approaches from bidders in finding ways to make passengers’ and taxpayers’ money go further.”

The first successful bids were announced in August 2011, with funding totalling £21m allocated to 16 projects. The second wave in November 2011 saw 21 successful bids with total funding of £57m allocated.

In addition to the four projects announced today, 10 further bids have already been funded meaning £26m will be invested in the final tranche.

Throughout the bidding process there has been no cap on the maximum value of proposals and bids have been welcomed from third party organisations as well as the rail industry

Chiltern Railways begin £2.5 million car park deck at Warwick Parkway station

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Chiltern Railways has started work on a £2.5 million car park deck at Warwick Parkway, creating an extra 222 spaces.

The new decking area, which is due to be opened in December, will bring the number of spaces at the station up from 737 to 959.

Malcolm Holmes, general manager Mainline at Chiltern Railways, said:  “The launch of Mainline has resulted in a dramatic increase in passengers travelling from Warwick Parkway, with thousands of commuters using our service every week.”

“The new deck will create an additional 222 spaces to meet the rise in demand and demonstrates our commitment to providing the best travel experience.”

The Department for Transport will provide £1 million, working in conjunction with Chiltern Railways, towards the total cost of the project.

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: “I am delighted that we are able to announce the investment for this considerable car park extension at Warwick Parkway. There is no doubt that this will encourage more people to travel by train.”

“Adding additional car park capacity will mean more spaces for passengers, easing congestion and helping improve overall journey satisfaction.”

 

Mace on target to hit New Street apprentice pledge

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Fifty-six apprentices are now working on the ambitious Gateway project at Birmingham New Street station and Mace, Network Rail’s delivery partner, looks set to achieve its target of bringing more than 100 unemployed young people into work by 2015.

While the Gateway Project will modernise a station which is struggling to serve growing passenger numbers it is also attempting to ease the pressure of growing youth unemployment in Birmingham.

On Wednesday, July 25, the company held a celebration event to mark the milestone.

Richard Thorpe, head of delivery from Mace, said: “Our main aim is to kick start the careers of young people in Birmingham; to give them a foothold on the ladder of our industry, an opportunity to earn a living, to be fully employed and develop themselves and, possibly, turn them into the leaders of our business in the future.”

The Gateway Project has been described as the biggest refurbishment project in Europe and the biggest construction project outside of London in the UK.

The £750 million redevelopment aims to deliver a massively improved station to accommodate future passenger growth and a John Lewis department store which will anchor a new-look Pallasades shopping centre above the station.

The Gateway Project will enlarge the concourse, make the centre of the station light and airy by opening it up to the sky, and change the outward appearance of the old concrete station by covering it in a mirror-finish stainless steel façade.

the rail engineer

In February, Mace set a target of training more than 100 construction apprentices by 2015.

Thorpe added: “The challenge for you guys is to get here to become our leaders of our business for the future. This is putting people into the opportunities for learning and education to develop their careers in construction.”

Chris Montgomery, from project partner Network Rail, said: “We’re here to celebrate a real success story. I can just say the number of apprentices we’ve got here is beyond my wildest expectations.”

Gateway: Employing Birmingham’s lost youth

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Birmingham is suffering more than any other major city in the UK to get its young people into work, with one in 10 claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.

But within the rail and construction sector there is a ray of light – the Birmingham Gateway Project.

The work at Birmingham New Street station has so far brought 187 people out of unemployment into full-time work, 43 per cent of whom are from some of the city’s most deprived areas.

Matthew Gunnell, 19, is one of those who has gone from sofa surfing his way between odd jobs to earning a steady wage as a construction apprentice.

Matthew was excluded from school at 14, homeless at 16 and was expecting his first child before joining the Mace-led scheme

“It’s definitely a big thing for me because my son was born a month ago,” said Matthew.

“I’ve never had no money to provide for him or myself because I was on Jobseeker’s Allowance at the time, but now I’m positive motivated and looking into my future.”

Mace formally opened the Birmingham Gateway Construction Academy on November 22, with the aim of assembling a local workforce to deliver the project.

Richard Thorpe, head of delivery at Mace, said: “I think that the area we’re in is one of the highest unemployed areas in the country is one attribute. The project itself is also a lead, it does attract people to it because it’s a major project and to be an apprentice on a project like this is quite unique in the industry.

“The fact that quite a high percentage of apprentices that start now will have the opportunity to see the most of their time as an apprentice on one scheme is also quite unique.”

“It’s definitely a big thing for me because my son was born a month ago. I never had no money to provide for him or myself because I was on Jobseeker’s Allowance at the time, but now I’m positive motivated and looking into my future.”

At an event to celebrate the success of the Gateway Academy, Birmingham City Council leader Sir Albert Bore lay down a challenge to the city’s business leaders to create more training opportunities within their organisations.

Councillor Bore said: “There is something like 32,000 small and medium-sized enterprises here in Birmingham and just 3,000 of those have taken on one or more apprentices in the last three years.

“We need to give our youngsters across the city every opportunity to become the workforce of the future in Birmingham and to start their careers on such a complex and prestigious project is also something which is significant.”

Rail worker retires after 50 years in the industry

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A Greater Anglia employee has retired after 50 years in the rail industry.

John Coates, 65, started out as a teenage apprentice coppersmith and worked his way up to maintenance manager at the company’s Ilford depot.

In 1967, John joined the depot maintenance team at Ilford Heavy Works shop.

Twenty-three years later, he transferred to Ilford Light Maintenance shop – now known as Greater Anglia’s Ilford Train Maintenance Depot.

John has been a key member of the depot team, his knowledge, experience and dedication are second to none

In 1997, John became the maintenance team leader, later working his way up to maintenance manager, where he was responsible for the depot infrastructure.

Greater Anglia’s Ilford depot team maintains the train operator’s fleet of Class 379, 317, 321 and 360 electric trains, which operate from London Liverpool Street station to destinations across the East of England including Cambridge, Stansted Airport, Shenfield, Southend Victoria and the Great Eastern mainline.

John’s work as depot maintenance manager has been crucial in supporting the Greater Anglia fleet team in their work to help provide over 1,900 train services a day.

Jason Carey, Greater Anglia’s fleet manager, said: “I’d like to congratulate John on his 50 years of working in the rail industry. John has been a key member of the depot team, his knowledge, experience and dedication are second to none and I wish him a very happy retirement.”

Dublin’s new Luas light rail line to open in 2017

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A tribunal has given the go-ahead to a new 370 million euro light rail line in Dublin – the latest phase of the city’s Luas Light Rail project

The new Luas line will run between the Green Line terminus to St Stephen’s Green, then through the city centre on to Broombridge.

Construction of the 6km line will create 800 jobs, with passenger services due to start in 2017.

The move means the Luas Red and Green lines will finally be connected and the interchange with the Maynooth Line will be provided at Broombridge.

The new line will also serve the new DIT Campus at Grangegorman, which was recently given the green light to proceed and which will accommodate more than 20,000 students.

Michael Sheedy, the Rail Procurement Agency’s (RPA) director of light rail, said: “This is great news for Luas and for commuters in Dublin. Luas Broombridge is RPA’s most important project. It will form the foundation of a high-quality integrated network which will significantly reduce the current high reliance on the private car.

“We will now be working closely with our colleagues in the National Transport Authority and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to progress the delivery of this much needed infrastructure.”

Bombardier extends Newark AirTrain contract

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Bombardier Transportation has signed a contract with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a further 10 years.

The contract is valued at approximately $243 million (197 million euro) and will start on August 3, 2012.

The AirTrain system at Newark Liberty International Airport first opened in 1996 and became the world’s first fully-automated monorail system at an international airport.

A fleet of 12 six-car Bombardier Innovia Monorail 100 trains originally served three airport terminals, three stations at remote parking lots and a rental car centre via a 3 km dedicated, dual-lane elevated guideway. Since then, the system has been extended to the North East Corridor (NEC) rail line, increasing its length to 4.7 km, and the fleet expanded to 18 six-car trains.

Bombardier has provided O&M services on the system since it opened. More than 33 million passengers travelled through the airport last year and to accommodate the high passenger volumes, the system operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Eran Gartner, president of systems at Bombardier Transportation, said: “We will ensure that the AirTrain monorail system continues to form the backbone of ground transport at Newark Liberty International Airport, transporting thousands of riders daily until 2020 and beyond. Newark and our parallel JFK AirTrain operations are strong showcases within Bombardier’s portfolio of projects.”

Innovia driverless systems have served communities around the world for over 40 years. Installed systems include Frankfur, Rome, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore; Madrid, Atlanta, Dallas Fort/Worth, Denver, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle-Tacoma and Tampa.

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