UK: No prosecutions over Llangennech train crash
The UK safety watchdog, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, released its final report on track damage between Pencoed and Llanharan, in South Wales, on 6 March 2021. That rather obscure title is better known as...Read more
Freeport bid coming down the line for North Wales
Ferry and logistics operator Stena Line has partnered with Anglesey County Council, the local government body, and announced a bid to bring a Freeport to North Wales. The partnership intend to submit a major freeport...Read more
Welsh slate lifts the roof on rail freight in the north
Rail freight has another UK first. Traditional Welsh slate aggregate is being transported by rail to Luton, just north of London, in a significant modal shift. The development is a joint initiative between the infrastructure...Read more
Surprise timber trial takes 800 tonnes off Mid-Wales roads
It has been a while since the seaside university town of Aberystwyth in Mid-Wales has seen a regular freight service. That may be about to change. A surprise timber train departed on Saturday evening from...Read more
Freight to keep running during seven-week Severn Estuary works
Almost fifty weekly freight trains will continue to run on a section of the railway closing to passenger services during a seven-week engineering programme. The Severn Estuary line between Gloucester and the Welsh border town...Read more
Freight and passenger traffic clash between England and Wales
A dispute over track access rights has put the brakes on both passenger and freight development on a line connecting North Wales and Merseyside. Local campaigners and politicians say it is a blight on economic...Read more
Seeing the wood for the trees
Another UK timber trial project has seen a flow return to rail freight. A sawmill in Abergavenny in Wales has received its first load of rail-transported timber since 2004. The rebirth of the load is down...Read more
Penmaenmawr Quarry Rail Terminal opens
In the UK the continued growth in demand for aggregates is fuelling expansion in the bulk rail freight sector. The latest addition to the roster is a little known quarry on the North Wales coast...Read more
Union Connectivity Review recommends better rail freight links at ports
The UK Union Connectivity Review, published today (Friday 26 November), has recommended improved rail freight at British ports to maximise the economic potential of the government-backed freeport network. The UK government commissioned the Review to...Read more
Climate change resilience for vital England – Wales freight link
Network Rail has announced a 25 million pound (28 million euro) investment to secure the future of what they describe as a critical cross-border transport link, serving freight operations in both Wales and England. Details...Read more
One year since Welsh freight derailment
Agencies, including Network Rail, have come together to thank the community around Llangennech in South Wales. The town was the site of a derailment and fire in August last year, which necessitated the evacuation of...Read more
UK report into links between 4 nations favours rail freight
Several rail connections between the four nations of the United Kingdom have been prioritised in the interim report of the UK Union Connectivity Review. These include connections between Scotland and England via the West Coast...Read more
Slick work cleans up Welsh oil spill
It has taken six months and the cooperation of agencies from all across Wales to rectify a derailed train, wrecked rails, a massive fire, an oil spill, and an environmental disaster on the railway line...Read more
Freight figures big in UK Union Connectivity Review
Better connections between the four nations of the UK have been the subject of the UK Union Connectivity Review – an examination of links over the borders of the United Kingdom. Commissioned at the height...Read more
Concerns over South Wales’ freight future
A high-level report has cast a shadow over rail freight development in South Wales, just as the railway in the region is undergoing much-needed modernisation. Representatives of the industry say that if adopted, the report...Read more
UK requires brake checks after Wales derailment and fire
Look again at the maintenance arrangements for wagons that primarily carry dangerous goods. That is the word from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, the independent watchdog for safe operation of the railway network in the...Read more
Wales to nationalise railways from early 2021
The devolved government in Wales, which acts autonomously of the UK government for transport and other matters, has announced today that it will take direct public control of the entire rail network within the principality....Read more
UK rail freight copes with coronavirus
Since March the rail freight industry in the UK has been among the most appreciative of the key workers who have kept the country running during the lockdown and restrictions that have been imposed to combat...Read more
Wales update: weekend after the derailment
An oil tanker train derailed in South Wales, late on Wednesday night last week, and caught fire. Dramatic scenes were captured of flames leaping into the night sky, and the train burned for more than...Read more