Eurostar is offering free travel to London for Ukrainian refugees who have a passport and visa. Refugees with the right documents are being advised to make themselves known to Eurostar staff at Paris Nord, Brussels-Midi, Lille Europe or Amsterdam Centraal stations. Travel on Ukrainian Railways is already free to anyone trying to leave the country, as the Russian attacks continue.
More disruption in second Underground strike
Members of the RMT on London Underground are staging their second 24-hour strike this week, and once again services are suspended on most lines, although some trains are running on sections of the Central and District Lines. The Docklands Light Railway is also not running between Shadwell and Bank. The dispute is over job security and pensions, but Transport for London says no jobs are at risk. Government support for TfL has been extended until June, and talks are continuing with the Department for Transport over a longer term settlement. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: 'Our members across London Underground are making it crystal clear again this morning that they are not going to be used as pawns in a political fight between the Mayor and the government which threatens their futures and their livelihoods. The funding crisis at TfL which is at the heart of this dispute is not of our making and our members are not prepared to take a hammering to pay for it. We remain available for talks with those in a position to offer a concrete solution rather than the hollow words we have been hearing.'
More HS2 construction materials to be moved by rail
HS2 says moving more material by rail into construction sites near Aylesbury will take the equivalent of an extra 28,500 lorries off the roads and save 9,680 tonnes of carbon emissions. Construction work is continuing on the early stages of HS2 Phase 1, which will pass west of the town. HS2 has already run more than 500 freight trains into its site at Calvert since the first railhead opened in December 2020. The opening of a second site on the Prince’s Risborough line will allow a further 285,000 tonnes of aggregate to be delivered over the next four months.