Channel Tunnel owner Eurotunnel is cancelling all planned UK rail infrastructure investments after warning its business rates are set to almost triple from 2026, describing the increase as “unparalleled” for a single asset. The company, which operates the 50 km fixed link between Folkestone and Coquelles and handles both high-speed passenger and freight traffic, says the tax shock undermines the business case for new terminals, sidings and capacity upgrades. For UK rail engineers, this signals potential delays to cross-Channel capacity enhancements and associated track, signalling and terminal works on the British side.

National Highways has identified 182 outfalls and soakaways on the Strategic Road Network that will be remediated for polluted road runoff by 2030, following pressure from river and water quality campaigners. The published list covers priority discharge points where runoff currently enters sensitive watercourses without adequate treatment, enabling targeted design of retrofit SuDS, settlement ponds, filters and upgraded soakaway systems. For civil and geotechnical teams, this signals a pipeline of brownfield drainage works involving constrained verges, high-traffic possessions and complex ground–water interface design.

A 15m-diameter vertical shaft sinking machine, claimed as Europe’s largest of its type, has started excavating at National Grid’s Tilbury site to construct a new cable tunnel beneath the River Thames between Tilbury and Gravesend. The shaft will form the main access and cable route for replacing a 1960s transmission tunnel, enabling modern high-voltage circuits to be installed at greater depth and with improved flood resilience. Contractors will need to manage large excavation volumes, groundwater control and segmental lining tolerances for a very wide, deep vertical shaft in complex Thames alluvium and terrace gravels.