Today Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport, formally opened the new depot at Three Bridges and launched the new Class 700 Thameslink fleet which will be maintained there. Whilst the new journey opportunities that will be created by Thameslink are welcome, the design of the new trains highlights the need for more infrastructure capacity between East Croydon and London Bridge.

This week has seen a massive improvement for passengers, with the opening of the refurbished station at New Street in Birmingham. £750 million has been spent on a huge new glass and steel domed roof covering the atrium – a modern take on the largest glass and iron roof in the world, measuring 65m x 256m, which Victorian designers constructed for the station when it was originally opened in 1854. Photo by Michael Tombs for Railfuture.

The financial performance of the national rail industry continues to improve, helped by ongoing growth in passenger volume, as shown by the crowds flooding off the first off-peak trains of the day at Waterloo.

David Cameron opened the new Hitachi train assembly plant at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham yesterday, saying the railways had returned home to the North East.

Former London Underground District line trains are being transformed at Vivarail’s Long Marston base in Warwickshire. A prototype green and yellow rebuilt coach, centre, is flanked by unrebuilt coaches, left and right. In the depot, more coaches are being transformed.

The class 700 at the new Three Bridges Siemens depot. Picture by Siemens

Railfuture representatives Keith Dyall and Norman Bradbury visited the Hitachi IEP mockup, which comprises the cab, part of a first class vehicle with universal toilet and part of a second class vehicle with standard toilet, at DCA Design, Warwick.

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London Overground train (operating as a concession granted by Transport for London) arriving at South Acton station.

It could be argued that the subsidy quoted by the Department for Transport for passengers on Northern Rail services is helping to pay for infrastructure development such as Reading station, recently opened by the Queen but shown here under construction.

The Department for Transport announced today that National Express has won the Essex Thameside franchise competition, retaining c2c and so avoiding an unseemly exit from the British rail industry.