East west rail: on track with new track

With a handful of trains now running, is all the work done on the first section of EWR? PAUL CLIFTON finds out

PAUL CLIFTON takes a cab ride on DB and Maritime Transport’s new freight route from Southampton Docks to Northampton via EWR

24 artificial badger setts… 75 bat boxes… 400,000 trees… and a railway. PHIL MARSH looks at the efforts to enhance the environment while building a 100mph link between Bicester and Bletchley

It’s the biggest upgrade of the Midlands rail network in the generation. But despite a recent government commitment, all is not what it seems. PETER PLISNER reports

CHRIS HOWE fires up the drone to take exclusive pictures of how the Midland Metro Extension programme is taking shape

Reduced services could continue for months. RAIL heads out on track to assess the scale of the challenge