Here’s some railway news from Network rail because there isn’t much bus news to report on.
From Network Rail
We own, operate and develop 20,000 miles of track across Britain and that’s just the start. With such far-reaching infrastructure, we have a responsibility to limit our impact on the environment as best we can.
We’ve made significant progress in sustainability over the past year, diverting 94% of our waste from landfill.
Our latest annual report shows we generated 2.14 million tonnes of waste in the 2017 to 2018 period, including construction, demolition, commercial and hazardous waste. We reused a third of this waste, recycled more than half of it and converted 5% into energy.
CO2
We’re also aiming to reduce our carbon emissions by 11.2% over our current control period – a five-year time frame in which we plan and budget our activities.
In 2017 to 2018 we reduced our CO2 emissions by 6.3% compared with the previous year, with total reductions of 17.5% against the baseline of our previous control period, Control Period 4.
We have launched a range of energy, cost and carbon reduction initiatives across Network Rail. For example, we are working hard to recover energy costs and encourage energy reduction throughout our managed stations.
We’re doing this through an ongoing programme of in-depth survey work of all station retail areas, with benefits to date exceeding £2.5m. Business units are implementing energy efficiency projects to achieve targeted energy savings, and are shaping energy and carbon reduction plans for Control Period 6, which begins next year.
Reducing waste at our stations
We’re aiming to significantly cut the amount of waste produced by our stations in the coming years. Since February we have installed free drinking water facilities at railway stations across Britain, providing millions of passengers with opportunities to reuse their own water bottles.
The initiative has helped large numbers of travellers keep cool during the hot weather but furthermore, the simple change will have a positive impact the environment - our biggest stations are expected to save up to 1,000 plastic bottles a week.
In June, we outlined even more plans to tackle three significant environmental issues in Britain’s largest and busiest railway stations. By the end of 2020 we will:
· Ban retailers from supplying plastic cutlery and cups in managed stations
· Implement a coffee cup recycling scheme for managed stations
· Expand the role out of coffee ground recycling to all managed stations
It’s nice to see Network Rail has installed free water drinking facilities at stations which save passengers a bit of money on buying new bottled water at the shops.
I am also impressed with how they are taking action to recycle their waste and recovering energy costs by encouraging energy reduction throughout their managed stations.
Also in the news:
Network Rail reports on the upcoming upgrade works for the Southend Victoria Branch line.
From Network Rail
A total of 19km (11.8 miles) of new overhead wires is planned to be installed between Mountnessing and Wickford on the Southend Victoria branch line over the coming months, as part of a £46m upgrade to replace the overhead wiring system.
The existing wiring system, which was built in the 1950s and is the oldest in the country, is being replaced with a new system that will be more reliable, adapts to temperature and will mean fewer delays for passengers.
The work will also allow for Greater Anglia’s new trains to run, and allow for more services to run in the future to meet growing demand on the busy line.
Which will be the Class 720 Aventra, Class 745/0 & 745/1 FLIRT and Class 755/3 & 755/4 FLIRT which are expected to enter service around 2019 and 2020.
The work takes place at weekends and starts on Saturday 1st September until Sunday 28 October. This means a rail replacement service will run between Southend Victoria and Shenfield.
In order to speed up completion of the programme, week night closures between Wickford and Southend Victoria will continue until 29th November.
Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia, said: “This line is in vital need of upgrading in order to run a reliable service now and in the future. We will be working week nights and at weekends throughout autumn in order to complete the programme as quickly as possible. The new overhead wiring system will completely transform the line as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan, making journeys more reliable and allowing for new trains and more services to run. I’d like to thank passengers for their continued patience while this work takes place.”
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We apologise to customers for the disruption this engineering works causes. We know people would rather stay on the train for the whole of their journey, but I’d like to reassure passengers that we will have plenty of rail replacement buses and extra staff to make sure that they can complete their journeys. We and Network Rail are investing heavily in the railway in the Southend area so that it will be more reliable and served by modern state of the art trains.”
So far, 447 structures which will carry the new wires, have been installed between Shenfield and Southend during weeknight shifts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. The remaining 83 structures will be replaced over the next year. The week night closures this year are scheduled to finish on 29th November.
Between Shenfield and Wickford, nearly 12km new overhead wire has been installed. A total of 128km will be installed along the whole line.
With so much railway works across Britain, one of the biggest launches which is coming by the end of this year will be the main core of the Crossrail Elizabeth Line.
Also the new trains will improve the image of the railway service for East Anglia.
Here's the recent London Bus news update from LOTS:
1) Go-Ahead’s two B5LHC/SRM buses VHP 1 and 2 ran on route 37 in the past week from Tuesday to Friday, but worked in hybrid mode as the overhead charging infrastructure is not yet installed. The BCI triaxle (TA 1) is due to begin on route 12 very soon. London United’s StreetDeck-HEV96 (WH45252) has been delivered but is not yet in use – although it is due for route 18.
2) The new E40D Smart Hybrids at Stagecoach West Ham have flooded into service in the past week with around twenty so far on routes 330 and 474.
It will be interesting to see the emissions being reduced once the overhead charging infrastructure is installed for the two SRM B5LHC buses for route 37.
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