Press releases

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the rail regulator, has authorised three new stations on the Camp Hill Line in south Birmingham at Moseley Village, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road, clearing the way for passenger services to return to the line for the first time in more than 80 years. The stations are due to open on Tuesday 7 April 2026.

Feras Alshaker, currently Director of Planning and Performance, has been appointed as Interim Chief Executive with effect from Monday 27 April.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the rail regulator, has authorised Bedlington Station in Northumberland - the final station to reopen as part of the Northumberland Line - ahead of its planned opening to passengers on Sunday 29 March.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the rail regulator, has authorised two new stations at Willenhall and Darlaston in the West Midlands, the first two of five new stations to open in the West Midlands.

Upgraded help point units, more frequent inspections, and improvements to connectivity at unstaffed and remote stations are among the changes being delivered following the Office of Rail and Road’s 2024 report, which identified weaknesses in reliability and inconsistent monitoring of service quality across the network.

Passengers who rely on assistance when travelling with Northern Trains should see improvements to the service over time, after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) secured commitments from the operator to ensure staff receive disability awareness training and to provide a £550,000 additional package of measures.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the rail regulator, has authorised Northumberland Park Station in North Tyneside, the fifth of six stations to open as part of the Northumberland Line project. Northumberland Park is set to open on Sunday 22 February. Bedlington Station, the final station on the line, is expected to be authorised and open in March 2026.

The Office of Rail and Road has today published its first annual benchmarking report on train and station operators’ delivery of passenger assistance. The findings highlight that while passengers are generally satisfied with the standard of assistance when it is delivered, delivery itself can be unreliable with 11% of passengers reporting that they received none of the assistance they booked in

After two decades at the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and seven years as Chief Executive, John Larkinson has announced his decision to leave ORR at the end of April 2026.