Plans for the re-opening of the Portishead railway line, as part of the first phase of the MetroWest transport project, are now open for public consultation - a major step forward for Railfuture campaigning.

The front page and an impressive map from a discussion paper from the European Passengers’ Federation produced mainly by volunteers from Britain’s Railfuture and Germany’s Pro Bahn.

Lancashire County Council is forging ahead with plans to connect Skelmersdale town centre to the rail network.

Newcourt station between Digby and Topsham on the Avocet Line opened this morning, and this photograph shows the first train at 05.57.

Trams would benefit the historic heart of Oxford

Transport consultants Dr Nicholas Falk and Reg Harman look to Europe and the US and argue that the
UK city of Oxford should have a transport system more like its ‘twin’, Grenoble.
Photograph: Grenoble, by Reg Harman. Trams on lines A and B mix with people in the heart of the city.

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Buried in the budget papers today is the statement that the government will provide £100,000 for a further study into reopening the Lewes to Uckfield rail line. This is a major success for our campaign - we will work to steer the scope of the study to capture all the potential benefits.

There is a practical pro-rail initiative in Norfolk which has long been in preparation and which is now making serious progress.

The Cambridge Guided Busway scheme opened in 2011 (costing almost twice as much as planned and nearly three years late) uses the former track-bed of two rail routes either side of Cambridge. The photos above, taken from a document produced for Cambs County council by Capita shows the poor state of the busway, after only three years of use, which could cost £30m to repair. Even the bus stops are not cared for (photo Jerry Alderson). Is this really something we want more of?

Railfuture travelled on the first Javelin, glimpsed at Hastings on Friday with Amber Rudd and Rail Minister Claire Perry, to celebrate progress towards electrification of Marshlink and a high speed service between Bexhill, Hastings, Rye, Ashford and London St Pancras.