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Not sure if this is just a UK or Europe-wide thing, but certainly this side of the pond, motorway building seems to have gone out of fashion. Since 2000, the only new stretches of motorway that have opened in the UK are: M60 between Middleton and Denton M6 Toll A1(M) between Darrington and...

In many cities across the UK, it is common practice for suburb-city bus routes to display “City Centre” as the destination if entirely within that city’s boundaries, as opposed to the actual name of the city for routes that stray beyond the city boundaries. Even so, I have seen a few examples of...

For example: Southeastern High Speed services run at 140mph on HS1 which has a linespeed of 186mph. SNCB intercity services between Leuven and Liege (non-stop) use the Belgian HSL2, running at 125mph on a 186mph stretch of track over 40 miles long. Similarly a shuttle runs on HSL4 to link...

Most rail users will have encountered some sort of delay, and probably unsurprisingly benefitted from one too. For example, say you arrive at your local station 15 minutes before your 09:00 departure but when you arrive there is already a train on your platform which is in fact the delayed...

I have some time off work at the end of August and beginning of September, and would like to use this period to experience some rail journeys and city sightseeing in Europe over a 3-7 day period. I would use at least one of the above cities as a base for my travels and even wouldn’t rule out...

The “Magistrale for Europe” is the nickname given to the Paris - Bratislava railway corridor earmarked for significant upgrades, but what about going a little further than that? While there may never be demand for direct Paris - China passenger trains (they will still be a horse and cart in...

Calais is a place that has for centuries been synonymous with cross-channel travel, for both good and bad. It makes sense being located at the closest point between continental Europe and the British mainland, but even so this hasn’t always been the case. Since the advent of the motor car...

The original orange and grey livery of the TGV was an icon of its time, although as the years have gone by, the sets have been gradually replaced with grey and blue liveries and more recently, white, black and red. Is it still possible to ride on or photograph a TGV that has its original orange...

The thread on slowest and fastest average speeds in the UK got me thinking about the situation with high speed rail in continental Europe. With different countries adopting different methods for constructing high speed rail, there must be quite a lot of disparity between services over a similar...

With HS2 designed to take up to 18 trains per hour in each direction, it will become the most heavily trafficked high speed railway in geographical Europe. On the continent however, most high speed lines don’t even see half as many trains as that. I’m wondering what the minimum frequency for a...

I’ve never actually traveled along any proper high-speed lines in Europe (generally those where the speed limit is above 140mph/225km/h), so would be interested to know which you find the most interesting in terms of acceleration, scenery and on-board train experience? Additionally, what would...

The Channel Tunnel since its inception in 1994 has become vital for the conveyance of passengers from London to Paris and Brussels, as well as supporting the Eurotunnel car shuttle service and intercontinental freight. As Europe’s high speed network expands and pressure grows for short and...

Having lived in East Dorset for much of my life, I’ve found that the area surrounding Wimborne, Ferndown and Verwood tends to look more towards Bournemouth and Poole rather than the rest of Dorset. In the past, Bournemouth and Poole were separate unitary authorities, while Christchurch was...

For level access between platforms, one would expect a lift or footbridge/subway with ramped access. These solutions aren’t practical and economical everywhere, but I can think of another solution that could work on low-speed lines - a set of drawbridges or bascule-style bridge crossing the...

What’s the longest distance over which a train in passenger service does not have any acceleration power applied, otherwise known as coasting? I expect the answer will be a long but shallow downhill stretch of track on a limited stop service.

Any open or disused station on a heavy rail, metro, heritage or light rail line within the UK are allowed, as well as former names of stations that have since been renamed. The purpose of this thread is to combine station names so that they form a name which sounds like that of a famous person...

Morebus route 3 (Poole - Wimborne) changes to a route 4 service (Wimborne - Poole) and vice versa using the same bus. This makes through journeys from Corfe Mullen to Merley possible on a single bus (and possibly even a single seat), albeit with the route number changing mid-journey. Are there...

With buses generally sticking to built-up areas, I’d be genuinely interested to find out how many bus routes there are which use a bypass to avoid a built-up area. Some such routes I can think of are: Morebus routes 10 (Poole - Lytchett Matravers), 40 (Poole - Swanage) and X8 (Poole -...

As alluded to on the passenger numbers discussion thread, why is it that the general public mostly prefer their choice of public transport to be trains and/or trams over buses? Quicker journeys? More space? More comfort? Less anti-social behaviour? Better public perception? This subject often...

Tomorrow I will be travelling up to London by National Express to visit some old friends. I chose this over the train on cost grounds and the fact that I had a 50% off voucher from a previous delayed journey. This however comes at the disadvantage of taking an hour longer, with a particularly...