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The machines can be monitored remotely. Topping them up, if required can be done at terminal stations, or at the depot overnight. The main difference is that you can substantially reduce staff costs if catering is indeed unprofitable. I guess another alternative is to switch to the airline...

I wonder if anyone has considered putting decent vending machines on board trains to replace staff. You see some pretty sophisticated ones in places like hospitals these days. Would no doubt save on staff costs for lesser-used services, and with digital stock reporting, you could have an idea of...

I think, as others have said, that the foot passenger market is basically dead on most crossings, though I have personally done Harwich-Hook and Hull-Europort. I had specific reasons not to fly (and with the latter, I did fly back). If you don't want to fly but want to reach Western European...

How difficult would it be to extend the platforms at Hartford, especially? It appears to be in a cutting but otherwise should be straightforward? Liverpool South Parkway would no doubt require a bridge replacement to the north which would no doubt be challenging.

I don't think connecting airports really makes sense. What I think will be interesting to see is if Birmingham and Manchester grow more following HS2. The other thing that would be great, though I think unlikely to happen, is if the GWML were diverted under Heathrow and had at least some...

Indeed, I can't think of any obvious places to combine trains on either side of the corridor either. On the western side, you have five routes (C2C, Chat Moss, Orsall Curve, Manchester-Preston & Manchester-Wigan) that converge without an intermediate station except Salford Crescent for the...

I don't think this would be a viable solution for Castlefield, unfortunately, because the rolling stock is far from uniform. Where you typically see this type of working today (thinking SWR/Southern) the rolling stock is identical or a compatible sub-class. That would be rarely the case with...

I suspect the only public transport provision that makes sense for a Center Parcs is a bus to help staff get to and from the site. I know that's the case at Whinfell. As someone who has been to both Whinfell and Sherwood several times, I can't imagine arriving any other way than by car.

Yeah I seriously considered it for that reason but then discovered that when I am going it's booked for a narrowbody A321. I've done narrowbody across the Atlantic before in a 757 and I prefer the space a widebody offers.

Yeah, I think that's a fair compromise, as someone who I suspect, like you, uses Warrington Bank Quay a reasonable bit, there is a lack of capacity on many peak time trains. I gather the Manchester trains are similar to, though more frequent.

The Highland Sleeper stops at Crewe, which has pretty good connections from Wales (both North and South!). The South West - Highland market is going to be very small; frankly, they are both areas of comparatively low population density with little substantial business demand. Whilst I...

I just don't see the demand. Quite honestly, if you want to do London-Inverness, flying is likely more convenient (the Wikipedia article suggests that across the London airports, half a million people a year did this in 2024). Heck, even from Manchester, I would consider flying it as well. Is...

This is a flight I have used a couple of times and exists pretty much purely to allow connection onto out of Heathrow, if it were me, I would adopt the French approach and not allow it to be used for point-to-point traffic (though bizarely it can sometimes be cheaper than Avanti!). The next time...

I'm biased as I occasionally use Letchworth & Hitchin but I think the current service level at Stevenage is appropriate. I also broadly agree with the set down pick up policy, though I must confess that in times of disruption, I have used LNER as far as Stevenage (even being collected by car...

My perspective is the same as this. The only part of the network that I think could realistically work would be future 'captive' HS2 services on the London-Birmingham corridor, though this is based on the assumption that very little OOC-Euston traffic exists and that Birmingham Interchange ->...

If they did go for 897s I wonder if a swap could be done with the incoming LNER units to try to reduce micro-fleets for both LNER and TPE (with LNER standardising on Hitachi and TPE on CAF). I appreciate the 897s as they currently stand are 10-car units, but I wonder if they could be reformed...

Urban Cable Car?

Not sure, it's the one I am least familiar with. Though on the sandbanks side, you have high-end residential (it's where Harry Redknapp lives, amongst others), on the other side, it's a reasonable distance to Swanage, so I would imagine most would drive. I just did a Google Maps comparison from...

The Gosport Ferry is definitely used by commuters, and the Hythe (Southampton) Ferry is as well. I imagine the Sandbanks ferry gets some commuting traffic (albeit driving) as well. The thing these all have in common, though, is that they provide a substantial 'shortcut' where going the long way...

Yeah, I appreciate that capacity constraint. I might be tempted to instead curtail the Eccles service to Deansgate and run the Trafford Centre service through to Ashton instead. If people want to go to Eccles itself, the Northern Service, albeit less frequent, will be substantially quicker...