• Samaritans’ Small Talk Saves Lives campaign launches as half the nation admit to swerving someone they don’t know to avoid small talk.
• Nearly half of British adults in the Southern region avoid engaging with someone they don’t know to avoid small talk.
• 24% are worried they would say the wrong thing when engaging with someone.
• 92% of people say they don’t have a go-to question to start small talk.
• 82% have used small talk in their personal lives over the past month.

• Samaritans’ Small Talk Saves Lives campaign launches as half the nation admit to swerving someone they don’t know to avoid small talk.

• Pop-up events will give passengers at Glasgow Central, Haymarket, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dumfries, Lockerbie, Kirkcaldy and Stirling the chance to practice their small talk.

• Samaritans’ Small Talk Saves Lives campaign launches as half the nation admit to swerving someone they don’t know to avoid small talk
• A pop-up ‘Small Talk Salon’ will give London King’s Cross passengers the chance to practice their small talk with a trim and a chat

Passengers are being reminded to check before they travel between Cardiff Central and Swansea on three Sundays in March when Network Rail will be carrying out essential track renewals.

The East Coast Digital Programme has taken a big step forward with the renewal of infrastructure successfully commissioned that now enables the Welwyn to Hitchin (W2H) ETCS overlay to be tested and proven, with engineers having worked around the clock between 17-20 February. W2H is Britain’s first instance of infrastructure commissioning towards a ‘no signals’ intercity mainline.

In a big step forward for the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), new technology has now been successfully commissioned between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin, bringing digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line a step closer.

Network Rail is working with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) to build and open Aldridge station – restoring passenger rail services to the town for the first time in 60 years. 

Passengers are being encouraged to check before travelling as planned weekend engineering work in March will affect services between Norwich and Ipswich, and between Ipswich and Cambridge/Ely.