Recent content by mickey

One of the big issues with installing a car park at Cambridge South would have been its attractiveness to those travelling to the campus rather than away from it, effectively allowing them to pay for railway parking without actually using the train. As this would defeat the primary purpose of...

Very common in India, I’m pretty sure even Portillo sampled it on one of his jollies. Off-railways for a second, but I’m sure you’ll see the relevance… there’s a longstanding arrangement at Newquay airport where pilots can place a pasty order when they report their arrival into terminal...

One of the tiny operators in rural Oxfordshire has free travel on every service they operate - I assume council funded but don’t know for sure. There are also loads of free services to campuses and offices, in theory they’re restricted to employees and visitors but in practice not all of them...

There are still a few peak/off-peak distinctions floating around, particularly for day tickets, and Thames Valley has a special Group fare only available after morning peak is over. But I don’t think anyone has true dynamic pricing where fares can go down as well as up, based on demand. Wouldn’t...

When this situation happened to me at Shrub Hill the local staff held the connecting train to make sure passengers got over the bridge - they deliberately looked out to make sure everyone did before departing. Now I’m sure that this never got passed back to the DR team and I probably could have...

I once asked a friend who worked there why they were so successful, and was told it’s because most people think they are the official site/app for buying tickets. I can believe that, particularly given how heavily they advertised and how much brand recognition it created. How many people...

Doesn’t every unit carry a ladder for this purpose? Some definitely have it visible to the public, am assuming others do but in a cupboard somewhere.

Indeed, there’s usually a few of the car wagons around Didcot. It’s another nail in the coffin for hopes of increasing international railfreight though, given their wide-reaching connections (across Europe and all the way into China) DB are usually considered the best prospect of growing...

Was it ever actually online-only, or was it just a badly worded section on the website that misled people? Either way if it helps there’s never an issue buying one at Charing Cross - though of course that ticket office has always been among the more clued-up on the network.

I don’t know but if so then it’s even more stupid. Reading is the one that annoys me most, the station was literally designed for the centre of the train to always be in the middle (equidistant from each of the two upward escalators) and it’s since been completely ditched. A 5-car stops way...

I’ve seen a handful of GWR drivers with a fold over device (a bit like a desk calendar for anyone old enough to remember what they are!) that they display on the dashboard to remind them at a glance whether they have 4, 8 or 12 coaches (387) or 5, 9 or 10 (IET). If I were the Fat Controller, I...

Every large organisation splits revenues and costs by some kind of business unit - GBR will be no different (and indeed have already published an idea of how they envisage them looking). It won’t all just go into a big pot with happy families, that’s not how the world works. The positive spin is...

Ahh, that would explain why the GWML is so screwed up! A handful of fasts with additional calls, presumably IETs on diesel, but the GWR commuter runs have been ditched completely.

In principle this could lead to better services, particularly if it stops operators/managers being so willing to can services at the drop of a hat. At the moment there’s little reward for those who put in a bit more effort to keep things running. (Yes I’m aware the reality will likely be...

Having a season ticket or being a student is not a protected characteristic. I’d suggest we’re a long way from that being a realistic concern here.