Network Rail faces a £3.75m fine after safety lapses led to the deaths of two track workers, while HS2 Ltd secures a £100m telecoms deal and culture projects across Yorkshire receive £30m funding.
On July 3, 2019, employees Michael Lewis and Gareth Delbridge were part of a team working on the track in Margam, Wales, when they were struck and killed by a passenger train traveling from Swansea to Paddington. A third worker narrowly escaped. The incident occurred due to the absence of necessary protection, such as site or distant lookout warnings, and the lack of a line block that would have stopped trains from entering the section of track being worked on.
Nick Millington, Route Director for Network Rail Wales & Borders, stated, “The tragic deaths of our colleagues should never have occurred, and today’s judgment reflects that.” He emphasized that safety would remain the organization’s top priority moving forward.
In other news, HS2 Ltd has secured a £99.6 million deal with telecom partners to provide voice and data services for passengers on the new high-speed rail network. The contract, awarded to a joint venture between tech firms Hitachi and Telent, covers the design, build, and interim operation of the telecom infrastructure, which will later be handed over to a long-term partner.
Additionally, Yorkshire’s cultural projects are set to receive a share of £30 million in funding, with £15 million allocated to York’s National Railway Museum as part of a city regeneration scheme. Other projects benefiting include a £5 million grant for the National Poetry Centre in Leeds and £10 million for the transformation of Temple Works into a new home for British Library North.
