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Yes, I am a cyclist, however I'm also pragmatic about how we accommodate them along with other large items of luggage on a train. I particularly dislike the 'pile 3 bikes beside each other' racks on many trains as they're not secure, and if the person whose bike is against the wall wants to get...

While the train must be accessible to all passengers and ramps and accessible seating are rightly provided as part of that, public transport also has to operate on some basis of practicality, as space is at a premium and the efficient use of it for conveying passengers and their luggage is...

Even if the train has departed the station by the time you're putting the bike in a rack, the person, bike and rack are not in motion relative to each other so your car analogy is slightly ridiculous. It's more like can you put your bike on a rack in your garage next to other bikes. Unlike a car...

Are they any more difficult than loading a bike onto a car roof rack? Particularly for those doing Thurso to Inverness rather than 1 stop jumps. If space is at a premium everyone needs to shove up, well spaced hangers are a good way of getting more bikes in a limited space. Folding bikes only on...

Also a lay person here, but the model Scotrail are using is about 50% route distance electrified, Dundee is 59.7miles from Waverley and will have 25.8 miles electrified, I think that will be one of the lowest % electrified, so the trains can recharge while moving on parts of the route so don't...

If there are spare 158/9s, would it not be a lot more sensible just to strengthen services with them intact. Though Scotrail won't have any 158s spare until the BEMUs arrive, and if any become available from England in the interim there's probably more need for them around Edinburgh, so it would...

The way the planned Scotrail works the trains will operate routes with partial electrification, so for the section described electrification ends at Dalmeny, trains will cross the Forth Bridge to Inverkeithing (which is fairly flat), then go up the hill described to Cowdenbeath before a slight...

Presumably gradient needs considering as well, Rosyth to Cowdenbeath (a section which would be run on battery) is an average gradient of 1/87 for 8 miles with 3 intermediate stops which is going to contribute to power consumption. Battery draw will be a function of energy usage, accelerating a...

The railway could just apply any exemption to tickets booked in conjunction with a Disabled Railcard. Which has specific eligibility criteria avoiding the need to check every time someone buys a ticket.

Reservations ceasing to be valid, if not claimed within 5-10 minutes of boarding, would be a lot more reasonable, I've had reservations next to someone in a carriage with 10 people, clearly one of us was going to move. Announcement on Departure "This train is busy, please ensure you are sat in...

Removing the first class section and replacing with standard class would add ~32 seats seats (comparing with other end coach) so 186 seats per unit, but they'd be much more usefully deployed on Liverpool to Nottingham as the mid carriage doors would speed up things at Oxford Road and Piccadilly...

I can understand removing seat selection as a choice (or charging for it) as an algorithm can most efficiently stack reservations so when one person alights, someone boarding then sits in the same seat, reducing the issue that 2 people reserving adjacent seats on a Liverpool-Newcastle service...

If platforms were signed minimum 20 minutes before departure there would likely be far fewer people checking the platforms online, however given the regularity when it's 5-10 minutes before departure the platform goes on the board, paying customers are sourcing information where is is available...

This is probably key, you need the gates or other systems which fail to open, i.e. if the power goes off they should be open so the actuators are actually hold the gates closed when the are operating, the default position is open or at the very least fail to having no resistance so a slight push...

You could have a trigger point of 10 seconds continuous pressure on the barrier auto opens the lot and sets off the alarm. There are engineering solutions better than a bad gate which fare Dodgers can shove through. Relying on that degree of force to escape isn't good for children or pensioners...

Big red break glass in emergency buttons at either end of every gateline linked to the fire alarm which automatically release all gatelines in the station would function similarly to fire push bars which are often alarmed as well. Though hopefully either staff, automatic heat/smoke sensors or...

The Golf finishes on Sunday so not clear, unless they were expecting world cup final hangovers to dampen demand on Monday morning, though that will be less of an issue now. Though more complex to run even something like the Boxing Day timetable across the whole network than a 4 station shuttle.

Euston to Glasgow Express takes 3h28m to Carlisle, the Edinburgh via Birmingham train takes 1h17m from Carlisle to Edinburgh, so 4h45m The fast Kings Cross to Edinburgh takes 4h08m (and is timetabled at 4h05m) with 2 stops, even if they trimmed the WCML to only stop at Preston and Carlisle...

Avanti provision of food and drink, hot or otherwise is poor north of Preston in my experience, it's as much waiting forever for service as what is provided, though they also often declare working day's weekends/bank holidays as they're vaguely near Christmas or new year. LNER are just much...

ECML: It has been the flagship line for a century, from Flying Scotsman, through Mallard, Deltics. For genuine long distance passengers there are 1.1Million between Kings Cross and Edinburgh. On board service is in my experience pitched at a slightly higher level. WCML will have higher overall...