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What is your controversial railway opinion/idea?
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bussnapperwm
Established Member
- Joined
- 18 May 2014
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- 1,527
The national routing guide should be compulsory to be read by every passenger, along with the National Rail Conditions of Travel and the Railway Bylaws.
All trains with three or more carriages should have a kids carriage for families and awrestling sports entertainment ring with all fare evaders forced to wrestle against Revenue Protection Inspectors for the right to not be prosecuted.
All trains with three or more carriages should have a kids carriage for families and a
Buggleskelly
Member
All 3rd rail systems are inferior and should be replaced by overhead wires.
As father to a (nearly) 2 year old and 0 year old, oh what I'd give for a 'Soft Play' carriage to dump them in...
Being the father and stepfather of five teenagers I’d settle for a ‘Drama free coach’...
The ‘Blunt End’ of a class 91 is a more timeless design than the ‘Sharp End’.
All class 91 should be turned around forthwith and ECML speeds reduced to accommodate them. Obviously this will also reduce maintenance and later life tacky facelift costs too.
Sure people will get to work fifteen minutes later than normal, but this probably doesn’t matter.
All class 91 should be turned around forthwith and ECML speeds reduced to accommodate them. Obviously this will also reduce maintenance and later life tacky facelift costs too.
Sure people will get to work fifteen minutes later than normal, but this probably doesn’t matter.
tsr
Established Member
Level crossing signage is often appallingly messy and badly thought out, with a great deal of clutter and instructions all over the place, and there would be incidents caused by confusion even if every user had the intention to act legally and responsibly.
Overhead line electrification is inherently vulnerable and should ideally be replaced with overhead conductor rails, if it has to be overhead. There are also fewer incidents directly caused by the existence of the third rail than some posters on here would have you believe. Many faults which do occur are also handled well and as such are virtually invisible even to the average member of railway staff, let alone the public.
"Diesel islands" in the southeast should be electrified with third rail equipment if they are to be done at all.
It is a great shame that there has never been a successful push to introduce through Eurostar services to major British cities other than London, but it is entirely understandable that some circuitous long-distance connecting services into Waterloo failed.
St Pancras is a magnificently refurbished station and deserves praise for its popularity, but Waterloo International is under-appreciated in hindsight, and the International terminus did well to be exciting and basically successful to the very end, even though it was effectively on "Classic" slow-speed infrastructure.
Coombe Junction Halt could be genuinely useful with a bit of imagination and effort.
Buckenham station should have an enormous increase in station calls if - and only if - Buckenham Ferry could be reinstated, and if so, it should be heavily promoted as a parkway station for access from the surrounding villages to Norwich.
Teesside Airport Parkway (or whatever it's called these days) is now a needlessly confusing bit of infrastructure for people trying to work out how to travel to airports by public transport, although there was probably a point where someone could have bitten the bullet and made it more useful. The station should be mothballed, but land should be safeguarded (perhaps in a more appropriate place) for a better airport station, and train timings should retain flexibility to have an airport stop reinstated.
Purley Oaks station should be closed. A grade-separated flyover should leave the Down East Grinstead Line at Selsdon, running around the north edge of the allotments to the south (to cross back over to the mainline), and then forming a fifth easternmost track through the site of Purley Oaks (where the alignment should be straightened slightly) to Purley Aggregates, where it would then run into either Purley Platform 6 or a new platform. Meanwhile, the former Down Slow would be made bidirectional from Purley Platform 4 (already reversible) to South Croydon, where it would join with the existing reversible line. A new tram route would run from Sandilands, through the tunnels and onwards to Selsdon (where it would stop in the remaining space), cross the East Grinstead lines on a parallel flyover to the new Down Slow, and then call just west of Sanderstead station, Purley Oaks (perhaps Low Level, through an enlarged subway under the railway), Biddulph Rd, Kingsdown Ave, Edgehill Rd, and stops through the Woodcote area.
Overhead line electrification is inherently vulnerable and should ideally be replaced with overhead conductor rails, if it has to be overhead. There are also fewer incidents directly caused by the existence of the third rail than some posters on here would have you believe. Many faults which do occur are also handled well and as such are virtually invisible even to the average member of railway staff, let alone the public.
"Diesel islands" in the southeast should be electrified with third rail equipment if they are to be done at all.
It is a great shame that there has never been a successful push to introduce through Eurostar services to major British cities other than London, but it is entirely understandable that some circuitous long-distance connecting services into Waterloo failed.
St Pancras is a magnificently refurbished station and deserves praise for its popularity, but Waterloo International is under-appreciated in hindsight, and the International terminus did well to be exciting and basically successful to the very end, even though it was effectively on "Classic" slow-speed infrastructure.
Coombe Junction Halt could be genuinely useful with a bit of imagination and effort.
Buckenham station should have an enormous increase in station calls if - and only if - Buckenham Ferry could be reinstated, and if so, it should be heavily promoted as a parkway station for access from the surrounding villages to Norwich.
Teesside Airport Parkway (or whatever it's called these days) is now a needlessly confusing bit of infrastructure for people trying to work out how to travel to airports by public transport, although there was probably a point where someone could have bitten the bullet and made it more useful. The station should be mothballed, but land should be safeguarded (perhaps in a more appropriate place) for a better airport station, and train timings should retain flexibility to have an airport stop reinstated.
Purley Oaks station should be closed. A grade-separated flyover should leave the Down East Grinstead Line at Selsdon, running around the north edge of the allotments to the south (to cross back over to the mainline), and then forming a fifth easternmost track through the site of Purley Oaks (where the alignment should be straightened slightly) to Purley Aggregates, where it would then run into either Purley Platform 6 or a new platform. Meanwhile, the former Down Slow would be made bidirectional from Purley Platform 4 (already reversible) to South Croydon, where it would join with the existing reversible line. A new tram route would run from Sandilands, through the tunnels and onwards to Selsdon (where it would stop in the remaining space), cross the East Grinstead lines on a parallel flyover to the new Down Slow, and then call just west of Sanderstead station, Purley Oaks (perhaps Low Level, through an enlarged subway under the railway), Biddulph Rd, Kingsdown Ave, Edgehill Rd, and stops through the Woodcote area.
Sean Emmett
Member
- Joined
- 9 Mar 2015
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- 522
13 week timetable window should be sacrosanct i.e. no planned engineering works and no strikes at less than 13 weeks notice.
underbank
Established Member
Very low speed/short branch lines shouldn't have the same rules/restrictions/protections as faster lines. Instead there should be a set of rules more akin to light rail for the low speed branch lines.
lyndhurst25
Established Member
- Joined
- 26 Nov 2010
- Messages
- 1,591
It's not a difficult job. You don't even have to steer. 
My controversial opinions are as follows:
1.Manchester's catchment area is not 3 times as large as Liverpool's
2. Manchester is not 3 times further away from the WCML stops at Warrington and Wigan than Liverpool
3. Manchester trains do not serve 3 times as many major destinations on their way to London as Liverpool trains do
4. Provision of train services is based on perceptions and political clout as much as it is based on demand analysis.
Indigo Soup
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 May 2018
- Messages
- 1,488
If infrastructure cannot support the desired level of usage, then this should be addressed by improving the infrastructure, not by cutting services to a level that suits the existing infrastructure. Demand forecasts and capital expenditure should be planned so that the improved infrastructure is in place to allow this to happen.
krus_aragon
Established Member
Best of all, in a 'Soft-Play' carriage they'll bounce when you dump them in!
Being the father and stepfather of five teenagers I’d settle for a ‘Drama free coach’...
They could have lined one entirely with EPB cushions !
Strict rationalisation of the Kent/Southeastern services.
Nothing from Victoria beyond Medway/Sevenoaks. Services to Hayes and Sidcup lines.
Cannon Street only with services to Dartford lines, Hayes, Orpington/Sevenoaks at a push.
Charing Cross - all Kent country service (along with St Pancras) including via Maidstone and Canterbury East. Only metro services are via Grove Park.
Intensify metro routes out of Victoria and Cannon Street, including possible new routes to the Sutton Loop via Herne Hill. Charing Cross becomes main 'outer' Kent station.
Nothing from Victoria beyond Medway/Sevenoaks. Services to Hayes and Sidcup lines.
Cannon Street only with services to Dartford lines, Hayes, Orpington/Sevenoaks at a push.
Charing Cross - all Kent country service (along with St Pancras) including via Maidstone and Canterbury East. Only metro services are via Grove Park.
Intensify metro routes out of Victoria and Cannon Street, including possible new routes to the Sutton Loop via Herne Hill. Charing Cross becomes main 'outer' Kent station.
Y Ddraig Coch
Established Member
The WAG have actually made a pretty decent job of the new franchise and there are some exciting times ahead in Wales.
As in - the only metro services out of Charing Cross would be the current slows via Grove Park. 4tph - not via Lewisham. Plus all of the Kent Coast as mentioned.
Medway services would be a mix - as they are more outer suburban and there are turnbacks at Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham and Faversham. I'd intensify these services to Victoria, to enable fast Bromley South trains to remain (which is the big controversial part of my Victoria suggestion) - but also more feature more skip stopping, semi-fasts and overtaking at Kent House along the Victoria route.
Medway services would be a mix - as they are more outer suburban and there are turnbacks at Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham and Faversham. I'd intensify these services to Victoria, to enable fast Bromley South trains to remain (which is the big controversial part of my Victoria suggestion) - but also more feature more skip stopping, semi-fasts and overtaking at Kent House along the Victoria route.
Hellfire
Member
- Joined
- 14 Dec 2012
- Messages
- 573
Bring back station masters
underbank
Established Member
Electrify the S&C line so it can be used as a proper relief for when the WCML is blocked. RRB's between Preston and Carlisle is a very long journey by road.
bussnapperwm
Established Member
- Joined
- 18 May 2014
- Messages
- 1,527
Seconded
and Fat Controllers.
Dore & Totley
Member
- Joined
- 3 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 75
The Hope Valley line upgrade will be constructed before I die
GrimShady
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Dec 2016
- Messages
- 1,740
DMUs should be banned for journeys over 2hours.
LHCS for all journeys over 2hours.
LHCS for all journeys over 2hours.
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