Major work to replace a Victorian drainage culvert beneath the railway in Aylesbury is now complete to improve future journeys for passengers and freight services.

Much of the rail network is open over the August bank holiday to allow passengers to enjoy the best tourist destinations across Anglia, but engineering work will be taking place which may affect some rail journeys.

Services between Swindon and Gloucester will be affected with no direct services between London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa.  

• Rail Minister Huw Merriman MP official opens immersive safety training centre
• Rail workers to experience real life safety-critical scenarios in a safe environment
• Innovative approach that will allow participants to witness an incident in real-time, encounter the decisions that led to a fatal situation and evaluate how to stop it from happening in future
• Multi-sensory rooms designed to replicate working on rail tracks and the consequences of poor decisions
• The TRUST safety leadership programme is designed and delivered by Active Training Team (ATT) in a purpose-built centre in Huddersfield

Jake Kelly, currently the company’s system operator director, has been appointed as the new managing director of its Eastern region, starting the role on 4 September.

The Severn Estuary line has today (Friday 18 August) reopened after three weeks of 24/7 work to mitigate the impact of weather-related landslips that will improve train performance, reduce delays, and ensure the highest level of reliability for passengers and freight services. 

A Victorian brick archway and a hand grenade are among some of the unique challenges that temporarily paused progress on the major project, with round the clock shifts now set to begin. 

Network Rail has revealed that delays to Southern and Gatwick Express passengers travelling into London Victoria have fallen by 55% following the switch-on of a brand-new signalling system in South London.