New Civil Engineer
Richard Johnstone
I am a reporter for NCE, mainly covering transport issues for the magazine - both news and features. I have covered transport stories throughout the UK for more than three years, first at Holyrood magazine in Edinburgh, where I examining issues such as a potential high speed rail line and a new crossing of the Forth for the magazine’s audience of politicians. I then covered projects such as Crossrail, rail electrification schemes and the Edinburgh tram construction at RAIL magazine, as well as investigating the wider rail industry. I continue to report on all of these, and many more things, at NCE so please get in touch with any stories. Since joining in August 2010, I have seen the country’s largest orthotropic steel bridge deck being constructed in Reading as part of the station upgrade, and was among the first reporters on site when a concrete mixer hit a train after smashing through a bridge in Oxshott in Surrey.
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Over the tracks
20-Apr-2011
The project to remove a bottleneck on the East Coast Main Line at Hitchin will be used to test Network Rail’s plan to work more closely with contractors. Richard Johnstone reports. -
Ministers clamp down on highway repairs
14 April 2011
Local authorities that underperform in road maintenance could be named and shamed as part of a new efficiency drive, transport minister Norman Baker warned last week. -
Winning Forth bridge bid £260M cheaper than rival
07 April 2011
The winning bidder for the Forth replacement crossing was £260M cheaper than its rival, it emerged this week. -
Hitchin flyover to debut new Network Rail contract
07 April 2011
Network Rail has been given the go-ahead to build a £60M flyover to relieve a capacity bottleneck on the East Coast Main Line - the first project to be taken forward in its new contracting structure. -
Costain tops HA supply league
07 April 2011
Costain is in pole position to win Highways Agency work after top scoring in the Agency’s new supplier assessment process. -
West Coast Main Line plugged as alternative to HS2
07 April 2011
Two MPs have called on the government to re-examine upgrading the West Coast Main Line as a cheaper alternative to High Speed 2, saying that a new appraisal is needed “for the credibility of the project”. -
Shortfall triggers road closure fears
31 March 2011
Local authorities could be forced to close roads due to the mounting maintenance backlog, even though the government doubled repairs cash in last week’s Budget. -
Damage twice as severe as feared
24 March 2011
Earthquake and tsunami damage to Japan’s transport infrastructure is almost twice as severe as originally feared. -
Airport operators to face fines if snow causes flight disruption
24 March 2011
Airport operators face hefty fines for failing to keep their runways open during bad weather, under plans drawn up by ministers. -
BAA backs Heathrow Express on Crossrail plan
24 March 2011
Airport operator BAA chief executive Colin Matthews this week threw his weight behind plans to run Heathrow Express services through Crossrail’s central London tunnels. -
Network Rail to introduce pain share/gain share alliances
24 March 2011
Network Rail is set to form long term alliances with contractors and designers to deliver major projects. -
Industry doubts deliverability of cut price Forth Crossing bid
23-Mar-2011
Senior industry sources this week questioned whether the winning consortium in the competition to construct the new Forth Replacement Crossing could build it for its £790M bid, which was £110M lower than had been expected. -
Time sensitive
21-Mar-2011
A new type of rapid hardening concrete promises to ease the pressure on contractors battling to complete time-sensitive jobs. Richard Johnstone reports. -
Destroyed Japanese roads hamper aid
17 March 2011
Japan faces a massive effort to rebuild transport networks after more than 700 roads were damaged following the 9.0 magnitude earthquake on 11 March. -
Glasgow subway plans win funding
17 March 2011
The Scottish Government has confirmed that it will provide capital funding for a £290M upgrade to Glasgow’s subway system. -
Atkins defends Chiltern railway design after delays row
17 March 2011
Consultant Atkins this week defended the quality of its designs for the Chiltern railway following criticisms that it had contributed to delays on the £250M scheme. -
Scottish CCS plan may create 13,000 jobs
17 March 2011
At least 13,000 jobs could be created by storing carbon dioxide deep below the sea off the Scottish coast, a report has found. -
Network Rail gets Chiltern work
10 March 2011
Network Rail has taken over the management of the late running £250M Evergreen 3 rail upgrade project from Chiltern Railways. -
Forth Crossing winner named next month
10 March 2011
Officials will name the winning bidder for the new Forth Replacement Crossing next month, in the middle of the Scottish election campaign. -
Closing the circle
3-Mar-2011
London got a new rail service this week after the recently completed East London Line was extended - three months early. Richard Johnstone reports. -
Middle East unrest threatens to stall major civils projects
2-Mar-2011
Engineering firms in the Middle East were this week cautiously monitoring how protests in the Gulf state of Oman unfold, as unrest spreads within the region and threatens to stall major infrastructure projects. -
Heathrow pods ready at last
17 February 2011
An innovative new transport system at Heathrow airport is set to open this month - following more than a year of problems during commissioning. -
Scottish Government urged to review road maintenance
16-Feb-2011
Local authority road maintenance in Scotland could be privatised in partnerships with contractors following a call for a national review of how the country’s road network is maintained. -
Prosecution closes case in Cotswold manslaughter trial
14-Feb-2011
The way a geotechnical company conducted the digging of trial pits was the cause of the death of a geologist, a court has heard. -
Network Rail bridge hits delays
10 February 2011
A failure to anticipate the need to bolster a road on the approach to a Network Rail bridge project has led to delays and caused massive disruption to one of the country’s largest business estates. -
Edinburgh Tram row brings in the auditors
10 February 2011
The company charged with delivering trams to Edinburgh has denied that it lacks the skills to complete the project, despite an audit report calling for the Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland to become more involved in the management of beleaguered scheme. -
'Flawed' M25 PFI to cost taxpayer an extra £1bn
9-Feb-2011
MPs this week accused the Highways Agency of taking a “flawed and biased” approach to tackling congestion on the M25 through the use of a privately financed widening concession. -
Train operators to get track work
03 February 2011
Train operators are to take on the maintenance and renewal of parts of the rail network, according to a confidential report seen by NCE. -
Bell Rock designer is finally acknowledged
03 February 2011
Some of the design work for the famous Bell Rock lighthouse in the North Sea was actually undertaken by John Rennie, and not by Robert Stevenson, an engineering historian has discovered. -
Longer rail maintenance contracts could foster better accident reporting
03 February 2011
Network Rail contracts could be extended to ensure contractors report more accidents, the rail safety regulator said last week. -
Government cash for Mersey Gateway up for negotiation
27 January 2011
Backers of the Mersey Gateway crossing were this week locked in negotiations with the Department for Transport (DfT) over the government’s cash contribution to the PFI scheme. -
Climate Change
20 January 2011
According to research commissioned by the Greater London Authority, the capital’s poor air quality contributed to the equivalent of 4,267 premature deaths in London in 2008. -
All hands on deck
13 January 2011
The annual tradition of festive upgrade work on Britain’s railways is well established – while most of the country is enjoying mince pies or New Year parties, engineers and workers across the rail industry are out improving the network. -
New authority to manage Manchester’s transport
13 January 2011
A new transport authority is to be created in Greater Manchester to help deliver more than £1.5bn of transport improvements planned for the region. -
Salt supplies 'could be problem' in New Year
21-Dec-2010
Salt supplies could be diminished by the New Year if the adverse weather continues despite local authorities increasing their stocks, a leading council figure said this week. -
Bam Nuttall’s Chiltern line upgrade runs into trouble
16 December 2010
Train operator Chiltern Railways has said it “remains confident” that its flagship rail upgrade project between Birmingham and London is on track, despite a rail regulator warning that it had indentified problems with the scheme. -
Crossrail to promote new linings
16 December 2010
Crossrail’s tunnelling projects are set to catalyse a major development in tunnel technology in the UK, one leading tunneller said last week. -
Hydrogen buses hit the roads of London
16 December 2010
London last week launched the UK’s first zero-emission bus route, with the introduction of two new hydrogen fuelled vehicles. -
Network Rail defends Thameslink plan
02 December 2010
Network Rail has denied that its plans for the Thameslink upgrade was too ambitious, despite the government announcing that it was delaying the project completion to reduce potential risks. -
Closed track close to reopening
02 December 2010
Network Rail said this week that is efforts to reopen the rail line in Newquay, which was closed by flash floods in Cornwall last month, are making good progress. -
Network Rail fined for crossing death
02 December 2010
Network Rail was this week ordered to pay more than £110,000 after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches which led to a man’s death at a level crossing. -
New Forth Bridge escapes spending cuts
25 November 2010
Scotland’s government has confirmed its support for a new Forth road bridge in its draft Budget published last week. -
Thames cable car planning underway
25 November 2010
Plans to construct a cable car across the River Thames in east London in time for the 2012 Olympics have taken a step forward after Transport for London (TfL) submitted planning applications to build the link. -
India seeks British private road skills
25 November 2010
British expertise in constructing and financing new roads is set to be exported to India, following a request by the Indian government for information about how to progress its $128.25bn (£80bn) five year infrastructure plan. -
Scots jobs shunned
18 November 2010
Leading civil engineers have attacked the way Transport Scotland procures major projects after US giant Fluor pulled out of the race for the £295M Borders railway design, build finance and maintain concession. -
Oxshott parapet design to stay the same despite truck crash
18 November 2010
Network Rail is making a like-for-like replacement of the Oxshott bridge parapet which was demolished by a loaded concrete mixer earlier this month. -
TfL unveils chemical solution to clean up air
18 November 2010
An innovative system to reduce pollution in some of London’s most congested streets has been launched by Transport for London. -
Scottish government confirms support for Forth Replacement Crossing
17-Nov-2010
The Scottish Government has confirmed its support for a new Forth bridge in its draft Budget which has been published today, despite a cut in the Government’s capital budget of almost a quarter. -
Mixer truck smashes off rail bridge
11 November 2010
A leading bridge expert this week called for a review of brick parapets on thousands of road bridges across railway lines after a concrete mixer crashed onto a train at Oxshott in Surrey. -
Brick parapets are no match for 24t trucks
11 November 2010
Engineers are divided on whether it is practical to strengthen the UK’s bridge stock to avoid accidents similar to the Oxshott crash. -
Line closures are ‘Plan B’ of rail costs review
11 November 2010
The man in charge of a government review examining how to cut rail industry costs has warned that lines may close if savings cannot be made. -
High Speed 1 sold to Canadian investors
5-Nov-2010
The UK’s first high speed rail line has been sold for £2.1bn to a consortium made up of two Canadian pension funds. -
Tube Lines blamed as Northern Line upgrade delayed
04 November 2010
Transport for London (TfL) has delayed for two years improvements to London’s Northern Line which were set to increase capacity by 20%. -
Union presses Network Rail over perks claims
04 November 2010
Network Rail was this week in discussions with rail union representatives over who should chair an inquiry into allegations that it misused public funds. -
Spending review 2010: Devolved funds cut
28 October 2010
The devolved governments in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland were this week preparing to find cuts to their spending plans after chancellor George Osborne announced that he was cutting budgets by 25%. -
Edinburgh tram hangs in the balance
19-Oct-2010
The future of the Edinburgh Tram project remains in the balance following a City of Edinburgh Council meeting which has called for a confidential update on the project to be provided by December - almost two years after the dispute which has dogged the project began. -
£9bn Trans-Hudson Express is canned after costs review
14 October 2010
A major project to construct a new railway connecting New York and New Jersey – the largest public transport project in the US – has been cancelled. -
Crossrail frustration
7 October 2010
Crossrail chief executive Rob Holden this week described the lack of a finished specification for the project as “a constant source of frustration”. -
Controversial bus lane scrapped
7 October 2010
The controversial bus lane on one of London’s key motorway routes will be scrapped later this year, the government confirmed this week. -
Network Rail could be broken into regions
30 September 2010
Network Rail could be split into several regional units following a review of the rail sector according to one of its key shareholders. -
Scotland to pioneer tax increment scheme
30 September 2010
Scotland’s government was this week set to approve the first UK use of a new finance scheme to drive infrastructure investment. -
TfL denies union's job cuts warning
23 September 2010
A public row broke out this week between Transport for London (TfL) and transport staff trade union TSSA over the extent of job losses at Tube Lines. -
Highways Agency will not be sold off to private sector, says DfT
23 September 2010
The Department for Transport has vehemently denied that the Highways Agency may be sold off to the private sector. -
Scottish highway maintenance contracts extended
23 September 2010
Two of the companies that maintain the Scottish trunk road network have had their contracts extended, ahead of plans to procure the next generation of deals. -
Tunnel vision
22-Sep-2010
London’s elderly Blackwall tunnel is coming to the end of crucially important upgrade. -
Service diversions dispute delays Edinburgh tram
16 September 2010
Edinburgh Tram promoter Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) has admitted that its dispute with contractor Bilfinger Berger is likely to delay the scheme beyond the proposed 2012 opening date. -
Network Rail 40% less efficient than Europe
16 September 2010
Network Rail is less efficient than comparable European railway operators, the rail regulator said last week. -
East London Line station will not be built after government pulls funds
9 September 2010
The government was this week criticised for being “short-sighted” after cancelling a planned new station on the East London Line extension. -
Crossrail surface works ‘affordable’ at £2.3bn
9 September 2010
Network Rail has announced it has produced “an affordable costs package” to deliver its part of the £15.9bn Crossrail project. -
Scottish Labour plan tram cap
9 September 2010
Edinburgh’s tram project will receive no extra central government funding if the Labour Party wins the Scottish elections next year. -
Scots consider road tolls in bid to meet tough carbon targets
9 September 2010
Road tolls could form part of measures to help Scotland meet climate charge targets, the Scottish Government has said.
