Recent content by oglord

Yesterday's Community Shield queue busters appear to have been 12-car 387s, stopping at all the usual stations. I thought there was some sort of signal position issue at Newport, but they seem to have stopped at Platforms 1, 3 and 4.

There are test 231s on the mainline to Gloucester today too...

Widening the tunnels would not solve any of the other problems though. This was all argued at length during the enquiry which concluded that a brand-new alignment was the only option.

What about the main lines? At this rate the reliefs will have a higher line speed than the mains!

Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff General, but not Newport High Street!

Indeed, as there has always been a fourth platform (the old Platform 8) now extended.

But that's the point... deliberately choosing someone with a thick accent rather than someone who is easily understood.

I don't *hate* local accents, I just think it is better for travellers who don't have that accent to be able to understand announcements. What is the point of announcements if you can't understand them?

Congratulations on your fabulous non-joke.

Oh yeah, that would work even better for the 99.99999% of the world that don't speak Welsh.

Absolutely! Although a more appropriate example would be Bristol (Hwicce).

No it isn't. It is geographically in the erstwhile Gwynllwg, sometime part of Glywysing. In any case, the kingdom to which you refer ceased to exist in AD 1090!

Agreed! I can almost understand re-recording the announcements if it is improving pronunciation of local place names, but making everything else harder to understand is a downgrade. There are so many regional accents, even across the TfW area that it is bound to sound 'wrong' virtually...

It is ridiculous because 100% of people in Wales and the UK speak English, whereas only 17.8% of people in Wales and approximately 0% of people in the rest of the UK speak Welsh. This does not need pointing out to anyone arguing in good faith.

It's fairly obvious. TfW have already forced the more Welsh-sounding announcements. Removing the English-language names would be ridiculous. People other than Welsh nationalists live in and visit these places!