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With a month to go until the nine-day part-closure of London Bridge rail station and two weeks to go until a series of weekend and Monday closures of the line between Euston and Milton Keynes, the rail industry is urging passengers to know their alternative routes into London.

Professional football clubs across England are to help reduce the numbers of young people injured or killed after trespassing on the railway by organising a series of sports and educational activities to divert kids away from the dangers of playing on the tracks.

Network Rail announces today the appointment of Sharon Flood as a non-executive director following the departure of Mike Firth. Ms Flood, 49, brings with her extensive financial experience having previously served as finance director for John Lewis department stores for five years.

Passengers at Euston can look forward to a bigger, better station with more shops and a wider choice of food and drink as Network Rail begins a £12.5m development of the station this month.

Reading’s redeveloped railway station was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen today.

Network Rail has today responded to the Office of Rail Regulation’s assessment of the company’s performance in the 2009-14 funding period. While this recognises successful delivery of a multi-billion pound investment programme to build a bigger better railway, safety improvements at level crossings and record numbers of passengers and freight moved by rail, it also highlighted missed punctuality targets.

Samaritans and Network Rail have announced plans for a new five year partnership to reduce suicides on the railways. Since the original partnership began in 2010, railway staff have approached and potentially saved the lives of more than 200 vulnerable people at railway locations. British Transport Police also report more than 700 approaches ⁽¹⁾. Many of these are a result of attending Samaritans courses.

More than 200 apprentices have joined railway maintenance teams across Britain to start their on-the-job training after successfully completing the first year of the Network Rail Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme.