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A few years ago there was a discussion about parliamentary constituencies with no stations. As far as I can see, there is only one mainland constituency with no railway, past or present, running through it at all. Anyone care to guess?

Capacity on the Northern WCML is currently eaten up by having high(ish) speed passenger trains and freight trains sharing the same tracks. Capacity is maximized by flighting passenger trains but still ultimately results in inefficient use of the route. So why not re-route all freight trains via...

We are starting to see some ideas coming through in the press about post-HS2 services in West and South Yorkshire. In general the idea seems to be to keep the current intercity slots and swap in different destinations. However, this fails to take full advantage of the freeing up of capacity on...

In the long term, I wonder if demand will increase so much that 18tph could be filled just from West Coast destinations and a new line from Nottingham to London then needs to be built for the East Coast?

According to the table in this: https://www.railjournal.com/in_depth/levelling-up-the-north, the aspiration for NPR service from Machester to Sheffield is 4tph taking 40 minutes, requiring 'significant infrastructure upgrades'. What sort of upgrades would be needed for this frequency and journey...

These already exist in China; could they work in Europe? They would be ideal for longer journeys, for example London to Madrid, where there is already a continuous high speed route. Flygskam could generate significant demand.

China is currently demonstrating the potential for very long high speed lines, the record currently being Beijing to Hong Kong at over 2000km. It also boasts the highest speed for a rail service, now at over 300km/h. Given the urgent need to eliminate sources of CO2 emissions, and the lack of...

Rather than being run as a discrete service by Northern, wouldn't it be better to run the hourly Nottingham to Leeds service as an extension of the St. Pancras - Nottingham service? Advantages would be: - New regular direct links from West Yorkshire to South Midlands. - 'Slow but cheap' option...

Quick question - what rolling stock is used on the Cumbrian Coast line?

Apologies if this has been asked before. The question explains itself, but I'd like to know if it's a deliberate policy by XC or the inevitable result of having so many origin-destination pairs. Travelling today on XC it doesn't seem they have the demand management at all right. They've got...

The Airedale and Wharfedale lines are intensively used with a number of flat junctions and single line sections. There appeared to be some difficulties fitting stopping patterns in when Apperley Bridge and Kirkstall first opened. More services will be added when LNER running regular 2-hourly...

The sprinter train family is 27 to 35 years old and still forms the backbone of many operators' fleets. Newer trains are being withdrawn (IC225, Class 332) and judging from the comments on this forum are life-expired. What condition are sprinters in by comparison? How much longer can they...

Various booking websites are showing that the timetables for 27 January 2019 have not yet been confirmed, at least for London-Leeds, and hence advance fares are not available. Anyone know when the timetable will be released?

Latest article in Railnews: However, research by the ITC shows this growth has been driven mostly by structural changes in living and working patterns: https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2018/11/19-most-likely-causes-of-rail.html The article continues: This ties in with my experience as a rail...

I have found some interesting data on the financing of the UK rail network, including the pre-privatisation period. Dividing inflation-adjusted costs by passenger-km gives a useful metric of how efficient the industry was then and is now. There should have been significant economies of scale as...

According to Grayling, the boom and bust funding cycle for the rail industry is nowt to do with him. Apparently we need to 'get on our bikes' and sell our expertise around the world! He doesn't appear to realise that UK companies are only going to be able to do this if they have a reliable base...

I've been thinking about what will happen to the 'classic' main lines in on the East side of the country post-HS2. There has been discussion previously about the frequency of service that ought to be provided from Leeds and Wakefield down the ECML to London. However, I think this misses the...

It looks like Leeds is going to get an integrated station: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/general-news/revealed-leeds-city-centre-set-for-colossal-revamp-to-accommodate-hs2-1-7597705 Full announcement later today.

Network Rail were due to produce a 'refreshed' electrification plan sometime this autumn, partly to bring the plan in line with all the schemes that have been announced in the past two years, but also to provide a long term plan. Has anyone heard anything more about this?