What is the railway doing well currently?

[Iskra]

Time for a little positivity;

- Technological innovation- class 769’s, 69’s etc.
- Fairly constant stream of large quantities of new rolling stock entering service.
- A few TOC’s have overhauled and upgraded large portions of their fleets recently e.g Northern, TP, TFW.

Are any TOC’s doing a great job but under the radar? What else is going well currently?

If we could try avoid negativity as much as possible in this thread, that would be appreciated

 

[daodao]

Time for a little positivity;

- Technological innovation- class 769’s, 69’s etc.
- Fairly constant stream of large quantities of new rolling stock entering service.
- A few TOC’s have overhauled and upgraded large portions of their fleets recently e.g Northern, TP, TFW.

Are any TOC’s doing a great job but under the radar? What else is going well currently?

If we could try avoid negativity as much as possible in this thread, that would be appreciated

Some of the above are not positives, e.g. the class 230's/769's are problematic, and TPE/TfW have acquired loco-hauled carriages instead of multiple unit stock. TPE's acquisition barely sees regular use, and the TfW stock is old and is likely to share the same fate as GWR's clapped out Castle Class within a few years.

However, on the positive side, reports on this forum suggest that the Greater Anglia TOC is delivering, with good quality new trains and reliable/increased services, but unfortunately it is not local to me.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Providing logistical support to HS2 construction - spoil out and stone in, in particular.

Re-birth of Community Rail involvement after the Covid dip including participation of an ever-wider range of groups.

 

[zwk500]

Replanning the timetable every couple of hours would be one of the things I would highlight. Both the planning teams (TOC and NR) and control seem to be doing a superhuman job to keep anything moving.

Also the at least 4 branch line reopening either recently completed or well underway. Levenmouth, Ashington, Hythe and Okehampton.

 

[dk1]

Reports on this forum suggest that the Greater Anglia TOC is delivering, with good quality new trains and reliable/increased services, but unfortunately it is not local to me.

Very much so A cancellation on our patch due to lack of traincrew is very much a rarity & would probably make the evening news haha. Brand new trains on all routes many with level boarding & a FULL advertised service operates each & every Sunday too. Others can only dream.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I'd say the quality of rail infrastructure is better than anything under BR, and we seem to be at a significant turn in the road with the introduction of ETCS.
It's just a pity the rollout of new signalling and concentration at ROCs has slowed, and manual signalling persists on much of the network.

HS2 will be a step-change for the network, as long as the politicians don't cut it back so far as to be just a WCML-south replacement.
NPR could be the same, but is currently too vague a project to know.
I have difficulty with the idea of a new Liverpool-Millington line going ahead while at the same time the Millington-Golborne link is dropped - it's the main line after all.

With growth and cheap money off the agenda, the new train bonanza is over.
The railway has made a dog's breakfast of getting new and repurposed older trains into service.
Looks like the railway is on the cusp of great change, with the end of franchising and with greater government/local control.

 

[Western 52]

Information systems, whilst far from perfect, are generally much better on the railway these days, and a step change from where we were not long ago. Much better than most bus operators have achieved.

 

[dk1]

Information systems, whilst far from perfect, are generally much better on the railway these days, and a step change from where we were not long ago. Much better than most bus operators have achieved.

Now I know there are a prolific amount of bus stops but even some very busy & popular ones are extremely poor real time information wise. Compare that with rural railway stations such as Gunton or Eccles Road which are superb.

 

[fishwomp]

Replanning the timetable every couple of hours would be one of the things I would highlight. Both the planning teams (TOC and NR) and control seem to be doing a superhuman job to keep anything moving.

TPE have been mastering this - with regular replanning just before 10pm, leading to far fewer cancellations. (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...train-line-vastly-under-reports-cancellations)

A potential winner of the Golden Whistle Award?

 

[357]

and TPE/TfW have acquired loco-hauled carriages instead of multiple unit stock.

Personally I think it's a great idea - because in future these can easily become electric services if wires are put up

 

[306024]

Replanning the timetable every couple of hours would be one of the things I would highlight. Both the planning teams (TOC and NR) and control seem to be doing a superhuman job to keep anything moving.

Quite true, except of course the railway would be doing better if it didn’t have to keep replanning. A bit of stability wouldn‘t go amiss, but seems a forlorn hope just now.

 

[dk1]

Personally I think it's a great idea - because in future these can easily become electric services if wires are put up

But then so can the 802s & easily go off route at any time.

 

[357]

But then so can the 802s & easily go off route at any time.

Very true, in my mind I was thinking more of routes that don't need a traction changeover.

 

[RPI]

The only thing the railway is doing well at currently is putting people off travelling!

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Time for a little positivity . . . . What else is going well currently?

If we could try avoid negativity as much as possible in this thread, that would be appreciated

The Elizabeth Line is bedding in well and is already used by a very large number of people. Probably the biggest all-round success the U.K. railway system has had in years.

 

[fgwrich]

Also the at least 4 branch line reopening either recently completed or well underway. Levenmouth, Ashington, Hythe and Okehampton.

Definitely this. Possibly 5 if we're going to include Portishead.

TOC wise, ScotRail & LNER still remain as the best TOCs In my mind. Very, very rarely have I been let down on my travels with either of them, both interact wonderfully on Social Media, both turn out smartly presented fleets and both have provided an excellent service when travelling with them on my many journeys this year. A complete contrast to my local TOCs.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Dec 2022 ==

The Elizabeth Line is bedding in well and is already used by a very large number of people. Probably the biggest all-round success the U.K. railway system has had in years.

This too. It's been a long time in the making, I don't think anyone can deny that, but what a difference it has made to travelling across London in such a short space of time.

 

[Iskra]

Definitely this. Possibly 5 if we're going to include Portishead.

TOC wise, ScotRail & LNER still remain as the best TOCs In my mind. Very, very rarely have I been let down on my travels with either of them, both interact wonderfully on Social Media, both turn out smartly presented fleets and both have provided an excellent service when travelling with them on my many journeys this year. A complete contrast to my local TOCs.

LNER have further watered down the catering offering and lost the plot during Covid (and during the aftermath), which I’ve still not forgiven them for. Used to have a highly favourable opinion of them, but that’s not recovered yet in my mind.

 

[gazzaa2]

The only thing the railway is doing well at currently is putting people off travelling!

I'd say more the opposite. The only thing the railway is doing well at currently is still having people using it (or trying to). Trains I use are mostly still busy, the demand is still there which is a wonder given how bad things are.

 

[RJ]

Increasing load factors seems to be one!

 

[357]

Possibly an unpopular opinion but I think we can class Lumo as a success story?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Personally I think it's a great idea - because in future these can easily become electric services if wires are put up

Except we don't have 110/125mph electric locos and any build order would be for an expensive handful - this is not Austria.
Class 90/91 will be dead by the time the TP wires are up, and the eastern end will still be unwired.
Bi-mode locos are getting there but are still essentially for freight.

 

[fgwrich]

LNER have further watered down the catering offering and lost the plot during Covid (and during the aftermath), which I’ve still not forgiven them for. Used to have a highly favourable opinion of them, but that’s not recovered yet in my mind.

While there is that, it is still more preferable than the complete lottery over on the West Coast - Is my service going to run, will the shop be open and will it have anything edible in it if it does or do I risk it for a night of sleepless sleep in the seated section of the Mk5s. My last trip also coincided with some interesting routings (engineering works) and a dodgy Hitachi Wi-fi router, so LNER kindly gave my order to me for free

Also on the catering front - I'd still take LNERs reduced offering for granted, given what we have down here : See SWR (No trolley) and GWRs pot luck offering.

 

[800001]

LNER have further watered down the catering offering and lost the plot during Covid (and during the aftermath), which I’ve still not forgiven them for. Used to have a highly favourable opinion of them, but that’s not recovered yet in my mind.

Lost the plot?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Dec 2022 ==

TPE have been mastering this - with regular replanning just before 10pm, leading to far fewer cancellations. (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...train-line-vastly-under-reports-cancellations)

A potential winner of the Golden Whistle Award?

Multiple Tocs doing this daily, just TPE due to the large amount are the company that have been picked up on.

 

[357]

Except we don't have 110/125mph electric locos and any build order would be for an expensive handful - this is not Austria.
Class 90/91 will be dead by the time the TP wires are up, and the eastern end will still be unwired.
Bi-mode locos are getting there but are still essentially for freight.

I don't know the TPE routes so well, but I was thinking that once wires are up the locos could be replaced with electric ones of the same speeds

This will be the first and last time I try to make sense of a rolling stock policy

 

[800001]

I don't know the TPE routes so well, but I was thinking that once wires are up the locos could be replaced with electric ones of the same speeds

This will be the first and last time I try to make sense of a rolling stock policy

I thought First Group had gone out to tender for a Tri/mode loco, for TPE and GWR?

 

[deltic]

Driving up leisure traffic to higher than pre-covid levels - hopefully one day we will be in a position of running a seven day identical timetable which would bring greater efficiencies and better customer service

 

[al78]

I'd say the quality of rail infrastructure is better than anything under BR,

Going by my frequency of delays due to signalling problems, this surprises me, unless being better means being better than the worst.

 

[Philip]

I would say customer service from staff on the ground (ie. guards and station staff) is generally still good, at least within the company I work for, despite there being a low morale within the industry.

The quality of the track seems good across most lines now too, with not much jointed rail left and rails not as noisy as they were 20-30 years ago.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I thought First Group had gone out to tender for a Tri/mode loco, for TPE and GWR?

Is that for the sleeper on GWR?
I can understand they might "like" a tri-mode loco for that, but I doubt the DfT would authorise it when there are plenty of class 67s standing idle.
TPE are in a bit of a hole with noisy 68s, but again I can't see the DfT stumping up for new locos.

In fact, where do we think DfT will authorise its first post-covid rolling stock (bar the HS2 contract)?
Currently, the policy is to make do with what you have, possibly recycling anything useful released by other TOCs.
Even the 2x221s released by Avanti have gone into long-term store.

 

[The exile]

TPE have been mastering this - with regular replanning just before 10pm, leading to far fewer cancellations. (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...train-line-vastly-under-reports-cancellations)

A potential winner of the Golden Whistle Award?

Sorry - but as far as I'm concerned removing a train from the timetable the night before is still a cancellation, as indeed it is any time after travel by that train is bookable.