James Brown

Briefing starts for £8bn highways maintenance shake-up National Highways has started early market engagement on its £8bn second-generation Maintenance and Response (M&R2) contracts to cover the entire 4,500-mile Strategic Road Network. https://lnkd.in/eEnQGdDx

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East West Railway Company (EWR) Connection Stages 2 and 3 (CS2 and CS3) are being re-baselined after the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom (DfT) spent nearly double its forecast on the project last year. Revealed in the National Infrastructure and Services Transformation Authority’s (Nista’s) annual report 2024/25, the DfT spent £175.3M on CS2 and CS3 over the 2024/25 financial year against a forecast of £90.2M. This represents a 94.3% overspend. EWR is a new rail line between Oxford and Cambridge which has already had trains completing a test runs on its first section, Oxford to Milton Keynes, with services set to commence this year. Construction of the further sections to Bedford (CS2) and then on to Cambridge (CS3) are yet to fully commence as they have not yet received a development consent order (DCO) to proceed. In its latest assessment, Nista’s rating of CS2 and CS3 remained at Amber on the confidence assessment grading. This means: “Successful delivery appears feasible but significant issues already exist, requiring management attention. These appear resolvable at this stage and, if addressed promptly, should not present a cost/schedule overrun.” However, the annual review also reveals that the project is currently being re-baselined following recommitment from the government to the programme, a route update announcement in 2023 and a public consultation launched in late 2024. As part of the Spring Budget in 2025, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves recommitted to the delivery of works on the Marston Vale Line, which will form the majority of EWR CS2. These works will enable the service between Oxford and Bedford to commence by the end of the decade, the Nista report stated. For now, the report states the expected date of completion for CS2 and CS3 is still at November 2030 and the current baseline expected budget is £3.97bn. A joint venture of Mott MacDonald and WSP was appointed in February to design CS2 and CS3 sections of EWR.

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Diverse fortunes of Britain's tram and light rail networks The latest Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom statistics on light rail and trams shows a very mixed mixture in terms of both annual growth and recovery from the pandemic. The chart shows the change in patronage in terms of passenger journeys between 2024 and 2025 (financial year) and 2019 and 2025. Most networks saw steady growth in 2025 compared to 2024. However, while patronage was up on the London Underground it was down on both DLR and Croydon tramlink. Blackpool tramway saw a large rebound after the pandemic as people holidayed at home in 2023 which has now fallen away as people return to overseas destinations accounting for its decline. Only three networks have seen patronage exceed pre-pandemic levels which is principally due to extensions to their networks. While some networks go from strength to strength, others have seen patronage ebb away. DLR's demand peaked in 2017, Croydon Tramlink in 2014 when it carried 80% more passengers than in 2025, while Tyne & Wear saw its highest patronage way back in 1986. There are also major differences in the proportion of concessionary fare passengers using the various networks varying from just 5% for DLR to 37% for Sheffield Supertram. Percentage change in passenger numbers 2019 & 2024 compared to 2025 (financial years), light rail and tram

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