Recent content by cle

This is exactly what it is. They do not feel bad for the other would-bes, nor are they maximizing capacity today. It’s straight protectionism.

This was mentioned a while back as a plan - I think it is a good one and competition / choice would be welcome - but seems to have gone quiet. Would be a good one to get into Cowley too, if an additional tph could fit.

This one does come up a lot! I would say, could Thameslink run the service, 700s but from St Pancras per today and same stopping pattern? And ‘interwork’ if ever needed to rotate units at Brent Cross. If 360 reliability is the issue. Wellingborough could possibly have a few peak calls added...

Is the trackwork required at Stratford that challenging?

Is the Macclesfield turn due to disruption and sending trains back down south sooner?

Great news for competition... I wonder if this will see - Rotterdam calls, and even Antwerp (knowing that station, it'd be very hard to section off for security, customs etc even if the demand was there to invest in it between the carriers) Side note, but I wonder if it will join Skyteam as...

Agree. Surely evenning the intervals out to enable calls at Clapham Junction and East Croydon, and possibly dropping 1tph path as a sacrifice to do so (a path of a fresh-air GatEx) - is a better use of resources and more resilient. Those trains could all run to Brighton, if pathable. If not...

I would not say it is limited! 24m and top 20 in the country. It has mainline station-style facilities in the main entrance But yes of course interchange is very high too. Cornbrook was what I thought of here, and the equivalent in NYC/NJ of Secaucus. Both since were opened up to entries/exits...

I don't think those EWR Aylesbury services would continue to London, as planned - it was via High Wycombe too. But yes it could change in time. The works on the line between them are being done.

The trains to Victoria today cannot go anywhere else. So what is the argument? We know that ideally GatEx would become part of Southern in terms of fare and stopping patterns. Might be 1-2 mins added for the calls, especially at Clapham. But those same trains cannot go to London Bridge - nor...

There is barely any Plymouth-Edinburgh demand... or Norwich-Liverpool / Stansted-Birmingham as others have mentioned. Now that all the Marston stops and all the new new towns are being added, this is a nippy stopper - basically. 100mph but really 5-10 mins between each station. As such it is...

Victoria is hardly a backwater. We get this on Paddington, but honestly. It has London's fastest tube connection (I would think the quickest journey from Gatwick to Euston, for instance) - as well as a high frequency east/west service - - - - - and a ton of jobs, leisure, government activity...

This should absolutely be the first intervention, as well as harmonizing fares (removing GatEx pricing)

Many have answered this - Bicester (Village and the town itself) have also exploded, proportionately - and will see a ton of inbound demand from this route too in off peak / weekend time too. Basically, ever node along this route has transformed in one way or another. And the population, cost...

I can't comment on the specifics of pay and OT but I would say that for new members of staff, it should be a given that this is a 7 day operation, and career. That's a choice you can make when you enter the railways. Could establishing a 7 day standard working week mean more staff needed...