• First of a Kind competition winners will deliver innovative projects aimed at increasing safety, reducing bridge strikes and incorporating AI technology
• Previous winners’ projects are already being used across the railways, improving efficiency, safety and reliability

• £5m Government funding demonstrates commitment to boosting passenger experience, encouraging more people to choose rail and driving economic growth

Twenty-six cutting-edge projects aimed at improving passenger experience on the railway have launched, supported by a multimillion funding package by the Department for Transport.

In partnership with Innovate UK, working closely with Network Rail and train operators, the First of a Kind competition offers grant funding for innovative projects to be tested on the railway, to give them a better chance at being bought by train operators, freight companies and Network Rail.

Given the Transport Secretary’s clear direction to put passengers at the heart of every journey, this year’s winning projects focus on improving safety at the platforms, passenger safety and reducing incidents of vehicles hitting railway bridges. Through working closely with Network Rail and train operators, these innovations will help to improve rail services and infrastructure where it’s needed most.

Among the winning projects is IntelliPan Network, which will reduce delays for passengers by using AI to detect faults on overhead lines, eliminating dangerous, service-disrupting dewirements.

Another successful project, SafeRide 5G, will empower passengers to report incidents using their own devices safely and privately via onboard Wi-Fi, boosting response times and removing key barriers to reporting, improving passenger safety.

Twenty-six successful projects will be supported with £5 million in funding from the Department of Transport, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to trialling innovative technology to modernise our railway and boost the passenger experience. These projects will help to deliver better services for passengers, encouraging more people to take the train and supporting growth as part of the Government’s Plan for Change.

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Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said:

“The winners of this competition are taking cutting-edge technology to address some of the biggest challenges facing the rail industry, making a railway that works better for the people and goods using it.

“These innovations are putting safety, reliability and passenger experience first, like IntelliPan Network using AI to detect faults on overhead lines, reducing disruption caused by dangerous dewirements.

“Through this funding, we are building a platform on which innovation can thrive, giving new technologies a chance to succeed and driving economic growth as part of the Plan for Change.”

Previous competition winners are already being used widely across the railways, like the Portable Track Geometry Measurement System, which provides immediate track information to engineers to speed up the lifting of speed restrictions or line closures, getting passengers to their destinations quicker.

Mike Biddle, Executive Director for Net Zero at Innovate UK, said:

“The innovations receiving support through this competition will contribute to a more accessible, safer, and efficient railway system throughout the UK. The competition highlights the importance of collaboration with industry partners and focuses on delivering high-maturity demonstrations, ensuring seamless integration into the existing railway infrastructure.

“Delivered by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, on behalf of the Department for Transport, the FOAK rail programme seeks to identify and support outstanding, innovative solutions. Funded organisations will showcase the creativity and impact of their ideas through live demonstrations.”

The twenty-six successful projects have today started work on the new technologies, with testing to take place over the coming months. A full list of winners can be found here.

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Thursday 4 Sep 2025

More trains, more seats and quicker journeys as rail industry announces December 2025 timetable

Region & Route:

National

The rail industry has announced the biggest timetable change on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in more than a decade, which will provide more trains, thousands of extra seats per day and quicker journeys, as part of a wider set of timetable changes across the network this December. 

Launching on Sunday 14 December 2025, the new timetable is the result of £4billion invested on the ECML over the past decade, including the East Coast Upgrade, and will:

• Improve connectivity between Yorkshire, the North East, Scotland and London, including reductions in journey times to long distance services;
• Bring additional LNER services on Sundays between Bradford Forster Square and London King’s Cross;
• Enable all passing services which are operated by Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Thameslink, and CrossCountry, to call at the new Cambridge South station when it opens in early 2026;
• Enable a new hourly fast service with Northern between Leeds and Sheffield, and additional services between Middlesbrough and Newcastle;
• Increase TransPennine Express services between Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley to eight trains per day in each location Monday-Saturday and 7 trains in each location on Sunday;
• Deliver more frequent East Midlands Railway services between Nottingham and Lincoln, doubling from one train per hour to two trains per hour Monday to Saturday, providing over 2,000 extra weekday seats and 2,500 extra Saturday seats;  

Crucially, the new timetable will include growing capacity with more than 60,000 extra seats across the route each week, and better connectivity, including faster services from London to Edinburgh (just over four hours) and London to Leeds (just over two hours).

The new timetable follows close collaboration between Network Rail, ECML passenger and freight train operators, and other rail industry partners. Whilst the vast majority of services will commence in December 2025, to enable a smooth introduction a small number of services will be introduced in a phased way in 2026.

Ellie Burrows, Eastern regional managing director, Network Rail, said: “The new timetable will unlock thousands more seats, more frequent trains, and quicker journeys along the East Coast Main Line. Our priority now as an industry is to reliably deliver this transformative timetable in December, setting us on the right path to provide further journey improvements in the future for the passengers and communities we serve.”

Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said: “Through more seats, more trains and faster journeys, this new timetable will see the biggest increase to intercity services along the route in a decade and will unlock growth along the whole of the East Coast Main Line.

“Growing capacity and improving passenger experience will encourage more people to choose rail, boosting the economy and delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change.”

In addition to the ECML, the December 2025 timetable will see enhancements on other parts on the network too, including:

• Running more Avanti West Coast services from Euston, including more trains between London and Liverpool;
• More independent services from Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo, including provision for a new Stirling to London service; 
• Transport for Wales will introduce two trains an hour between Chester and Wrexham, Monday to Saturday, along with a new timetable on the Heart of Wales line between Swansea and Shrewsbury, lifting the through service to five trains each day, and finally the first ever Transport for Wales Sunday service to Coryton.

Jacqueline Starr, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Rail Delivery Group said: “We’re pleased to support the introduction of this major update to this year’s December timetable and we continue to work closely with industry partners on its implementation. Customers can look forward to more trains and quicker journeys, boosted by the biggest change in more than a decade to East Coast Main Line services.

“In the long-term, this timetable will bring more services, and a more resilient railway that meets the needs of today’s customers.”

The full list of December timetable changes will be published on the journey planner tool on the National Rail website from late September. Meanwhile, passengers can find out what the ECML timetable means for their local area by using the dedicated ECML microsite https://ecmltimetable.info.

The federal government’s plan to “build Canada” is going to require “a lot of steel,” and “a lot of aluminum,” Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday. And, she said, industry leaders in rail, maritime and ship-building agree as much of that steel and aluminum as possible should come from Canada. 

Freeland spoke to reporters outside the office of steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco in Hamilton’s industrial sector following a private meeting about building Canadian ferries and rail infrastructure. She said the meeting involved representatives from those sectors, steel companies, related unions and elected officials including Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Some participants were in-person and others, like the premier, attended virtually.

“This was about really putting them together with the steel industry, putting them together with the aluminum industry, to be sure that as you’re building Canada, we are using Canadian steel, we are using Canadian aluminum,” Freeland said.

She did not share details or forthcoming actions but said the meeting was “productive” and “practical.” Participants discussed existing barriers to building in Canada and how the government can help, Freeland said.  

Freeland spoke alongside local Liberal MPs Aslam Rana (Hamilton Centre), John-Paul Danko (Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas), Lisa Hepfner (Hamilton Mountain) and Sima Acan (Oakville West) as well as Etobicoke North MP John Zerucelli, who is the Secretary of State for Labour. 

When asked about a recent decision by B.C. Ferries to purchase Chinese-built ships, Freeland said she was “encouraged and inspired” by the enthusiasm she heard for building more in Canada.

She added Ontario builders will be part of that effort. 

Canadian-made steel and aluminum faces a 50-per-cent tariff at the U.S. border. In response to the ongoing trade war, labour, industrial and political leaders have suggested bolstering the Canadian market, including in Hamilton. 

In response, Canada placed duties on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods. Many of those tariffs were removed as of Monday, though some remain on non-CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement)-compliant goods — including steel and aluminum products.

The federal government has pledged related supports, such as a three-year, $450-million program to help businesses overcome trade challenges, which Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, announced while visiting Hamilton manufacturer Hooper Welding in late August.