Recent content by TPO

Resilience is I suspect becoming more difficult as we rely more and more on the cloud. Even to the point where the old copper based phone lines are being replaced with VOIP phones over fibre..... It was interesting to see how popular Starlink became in deepest west Wales in the wake of Storm...

The whole of the service on the Heart of Wales Line was canned today. No replacement buses, just the whole service proactively cancelled. If you live Llandeilo-Pontardulais there is (thankfully) a regular service bus to Swansea although it takes rather longer, but otherwise you're screwed. Not...

Usual words to the press. Not to be taken too literally...... ;) And here is the nub of the issue. Centralising to "improve efficiency" will by its nature introduce the ability to have a far wider consequence from failure than is the case in a less centralised system. I remember the old...

This morning the Britannic Explorer caused a 31 minutes delay to the Heart of Wales service train, Llandovery-Swansea was delayed 31 minutes at Llandeilo. All because the charter train departed Haverford West 30 down and stayed late all the way- so the service train had to wait at Llandeilo for...

Yes, the convention is reversed for the lines from Cardiff to Rhymney, Merthyr, Aberdare and Treherbert. Convention is maintained for the Barry/ Vale of Glamorgan line though. It's the geography, its uphill all the way to the tops of the Valleys. TPO

no, as Europhoenix is not a train operator...... But don't confuse the owner of locos (Europhoenix) with the new train operator Europhoenix Rail. They are separate companies, and its Europhoenix the loco owner which has the association with ROG as they have supplied them locos for many years...

Some motorway bridges do get closed or restricted...... M4, not only does the M48 original Severn Bridge get closed regularly, but increasingly seeing the Second Severn Crossing restricted to one lane in each direction in poor conditions. The other one which gets closed is the Kenfig viaduct...

Depends on which forecast you look at. If you subscribe to Windy.com, you can run all the main models- ECMWF, Met Office, GFS, Arome, Icon etc. The more they agree, the higher the likelihood that conditions will be as forecast.... as they all represent different models. Whereas if the models...

Indeed. What finally came through was a bit different to the original forecast.... in south Wales, the Amber warning was originally the south west only, but not long before the rain arrived that expanded to cover the whole of south Wales. And oh my did it rain. The National Resources Wales...

The key term is "reasonably practicable." This has a very specific meaning in H&S legislation. There is a bunch of caselaw that defines the term in detail, but in short, it is a test of gross disproportion. Weighing the risk on one hand vs the cost (time, resource etc) of prevention on the...

Yeah, then they'd prob just nick the solar panels and batteries instead...... :rolleyes: ..... and in some parts of GB (i.e. the west), we can have several days with rain and no sun. TPO

Laira. Has the "Speedway" line running through the depot complex. TPO

There are solutions but they take time, resources and intelligence. I have heard it said that some of the gangs have people in them who are "orange army" rail temporary labour contract staff. Certainly it would explain how the cables are taken so quickly (they are heavy and laid out in...

I find it slightly amusing that yet again the "ops standards" people are being singled out as non-productive overheads..... You cannot compare competence management of safety critical operational staff in 2025 with old BR practises. Totally different world- many changes brought in following...

They are also assuming that registration for the app/an account would work. I have today tried to create an Oystercard account so I can register an Oystercard that I bought yesterday from a TfL machine in London. This would allow me in future to obtain receipts for trips made, for expenses. I...