Recent content by philosopher

Gatwick is my most convenient airport (excluding City that has limited flights), but situations like this make me wary of using it. Luton, Stansted and Heathrow have more feasible back up options if something goes badly wrong on the trains. Luton and Stansted have good coach links, while...

I know people always say cut welfare when there is a pressing need to spend money elsewhere, but in practice it is a lot harder to do. Pensioners tend to vote more than the rest of the population, so any cuts impacting pensioners is very risky for a government. This is why the triple lock...

In London and the southeast I think the climate is getting to the point where AC is required. Although average maximum summer temperatures are in the comfortable mid twenties, there usually are a few periods lasting around a week with temperatures in the thirties in the southeast. A flat will...

Closures of HS2 for engineering work I would have thought would be far less than other lines, at least for the few 20 or so years as it would be a new line so would not require lengthy closures for infrastructure renewals. Any maintenance work should hopefully be able to done overnight.

Gails are good for bread and cakes but not for coffee. I found their coffee to have little flavour. Nero’s coffee overall I find the best, however it can be quite hit or miss regarding the cleanliness of their stores. I tend to go to the Neros that I know are reasonably clean. Costa have...

Has it ever been used for filming purposes as it seems it could be well suited to this. A film crew could pass it off as an operational London station without impacting any passengers.

Going forward, the planning system should encourage shops, offices and entertainment businesses to be located within city centres that are more accessible by rail rather than out of town business and retail parks.

I too fall into the camp of avoiding extremely early flights unless there is absolutely no choice. I do not sleep well on planes and the whole stress of getting up at stupid o’clock will mean I will likely have a poor night’s sleep beforehand. Being tired also tends to make the airport...

Iran likely would have used the captured aircrew as a bargaining chip and may have killed him if they did not get what they want. This would have put the US government in a very difficult situation, giving into Iran would be seen as a surrender, not giving into Iran could be allowing a serving...

I think it could cause some shift from aviation to rail, particularly on the Anglo Scottish routes if airlines increase air fares and / or reduce frequencies due to higher jet fuel prices and possible shortages of jet fuel. Some passengers may decide rail is the safer option if they think...

I had my first ride on the Chiltern Mk5 today in standard class. The biggest gripe I had was the seat window alignment, which in common with a lot a new trains is poor. This is quite a big let down compared to the class 168 trains which have perfect seat window alignment. Another issue I...

Some Southeastern rail passengers will have shifted the Elizabeth Line, so this could explain some of the lower passenger numbers from Southeastern.

I have two advance train tickets, a London to Glasgow ticket for the 14th March and a Glasgow to London ticket for the 15th March. The 15th March one is a Great British Rail Sale ticket, the other is standard advance. They were both bought through the Avanti website. They were not bought with...

I think aisles on trains have got wider at the expense of seat widths, which may be due in part an effort to reduce dwell times. The Chiltern Mark 3 sets have very wide seats, however the aisles are very thin and it can be a struggle to get luggage down them. More modern trains such as the class...

In hindsight, 2020 was a temporary blip for the railways as it seems likely the railways will exceed pre Covid passenger numbers. However at the time, it did feel that the railways were facing an existential crisis as working from home and fears of infection on public transport threatened to...