The Urban Transport Group, which represents city region transport authorities, has responded to the Queen’s Speech by calling for more devolution. UTG director Jonathan Bray said: ‘We welcome today’s announcement of a new Transport Bill which, if true to the Government’s wider devolutionary objectives, should provide an opportunity to deepen and extend the proven benefits of local decision making on local transport. On rail, we want to see the legislation facilitate the full range of options for devolving responsibilities for local and urban rail services to transport authorities so that more places can benefit from the kind of transformation in rail services that, thanks to local control, has already happened on London Overground and on Merseyrail.’
Railway will close for upgrade before Commonwealth Games
A four-day possession will close the Chiltern Main Line between Birmingham Moor Street and Solihull next month, so that points can be replaced at the entrance to Tyseley depot. The £3 million upgrade should make sure there are no problems using the depot during the Games in Birmingham between 28 July and 8 August, which could attract an extra million rail passengers. The line will be closed to allow the possession between 20 and 23 June.
Chiltern Railways introduces Delay Repay for 15min delays
Chiltern Railways has halved its Delay Repay window from 30 to 15 minutes, following the example of many other operators. Passengers using season tickets will be able to claim according to the fare for a single journey and the type of ticket, and passengers with a season ticket lasting at least a month which started on or before 30 April will be eligible for a discount on their next ticket if Chiltern has not met its performance targets.