Teletrac Navman has been appointed sole UK telematics partner for Readypower Group, which operates more than 750 vehicles including on-track plant and road vehicles.

In response to reports that the Chancellor has asked ministers to draw up billions of pounds worth of infrastructure cuts, the High Speed Rail Group has publicly warned against making ’ill-advised short term savings on HS2 at the taxpayer’s expense in the medium to long term’. HSRG has set out its four key policy recommendations ahead of the budget on October 30: engage with the infrastructure investment community to explore funding options; approve the Old Oak Common to London Euston section of HS2; retain current HS2 landholdings between Birmingham and Crewe; develop and stick to a comprehensive long-term strategy for both north-south and east-west travel.

James Richardson of Skanska has been announced as the new Managing Director of the Transpennine Route Upgrade from the new year. He is currently Managing Director of the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture delivering the HS2 London tunnels.

Infrastructure project recruitment company VGC has obtained CHAS Social Sustainability verification covering 15 ESG topics. ‘Social value really came to the forefront in the tendering process around the time of the East London Line extension’, said Social Impact Manager Christina Donaghey. ‘We have clients that are really brilliant at ringfencing entry-level jobs, so that we can provide opportunities for people from hard-to-reach and under-represented groups of the labour market. That drives so much social value in the local area — things like ex-offender programmes, NEETs and apprenticeships schemes.’

Network Rail partnered with LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express and Ganymede to host a two-week Never Mind the Gap programme at Leeds station promoting careers in rail for women. Working in partnership with Women in Rail this provided in-depth training, one-to-one support and engaging placements for women who want to get their careers back on track following time away from the workplace. Workshops covered CV and interview skills, as well as active days out to a working train depot with Northern and a behind the scenes tour of London King’s Cross station with LNER. The group also spent a day with a Mobile Operations Manager from Network Rail.

Heathrow Express has appointed Aoife Considine as Business Lead, succeeding Daniel Edwards from October 14. A chartered engineer, Considine worked at Heathrow Express in 2018-20 as Professional Head of Engineering, before working for Heathrow Airport as Head of Commercial Strategy & Planning and Interim Head of Digital.

Martin Beable became Managing Director of Greater Anglia on October 7, succeeding Jamie Burles who is joining Network Rail as Deputy Managing Director for the Eastern Region. Beable has returned to GA from parent company Transport UK Group, where he had been the New Trains & Fleet Director since October 2023. He previously spent nearly five years as GA’s Engineering Director.

A Changing Places toilet at Lancaster station has been funded by Avanti West Coast (£87 000) and Lancashire County Council (£50 000) to ensure disabled people and carers have access to a dedicated space and changing facility. It is the sixth across Avanti West Coast’s stations on the West Coast Main Line.

West Midlands Trains’ Class 323 farewell railtour between Birmingham and Liverpool on September 29 raised £22 000 for the Scotty’s Little Soldiers and Brain Tumour Research charities. The Class 323s have been transferred to Northern after being replaced at WMT by new Alstom Class 730 EMUs.