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I don't know why any city would even consider buying non aircon buses or trains nowdays. However make sure the aircon can actually withstand days on end of mid to high 40s C summer shade temperatures. This is common in western Queensland in summer.

I thought Paddington only had wires installed in the last couple of years. So its just wait and hope that the trains will be restored before end of services for the day? In Australia this kind of event the entire line is bus replacement which in the case of Paddington would be Paddington to...

Sounds like hours and hours of bus replacement ahead. I bet they are regretting putting the wires up now.

I wouldn't be surprised as the overhead on that section isn't well maintained and such long gaps are common. Orginally this system was to be 1500 volt DC on a mixture of steel (urban areas) and timber (regional areas) gantrys in the 1940s but as the project was delayed until the early 1980s the...

It will most likly still run but with two on route border checkpoint stops one on eachside of the channel adding a good 2 hours to the trip.

Probably too long a gap and alot are on up hill grades. The worst one is south of bundaberg Queensland it takes 10 mins for the power to come back on and the train drops from 100mph to around 15mph before the power is restored. During which the aircon is off and lights off except for the...

Thats true its impressive the scale of the rail operations to support that coal export through the port of Newcastle. Its a mile long diesel hauled freight trains every 10 mins 24/7. Usually with at least 3 or 4 locomotives at the front. Unfortunately our national government is very pro coal...

You are lucky to have any high speed railways. In Australia its a distant dream that never gets off the ground. 100mph is as fast as it gets in Australia for railways .

Queensland uses 25kv AC and it has horrible dead sections all over the place where the train loses power for a minute and slows down alot before getting back under the power. The 1500 volt DC system doesn't have these gaps. In Australia even a train with a 70 year old diesel locomotive that...

Yet in Australia brand new DMUs are still being built and electrification of old lines isn't on the cards at all. In fact 100 miles of overhead wires was pulled down in 2006 and all services are diesel locomotive hauled or DMU today on a major line in the east of Victoria The regional rail...

This sounds about as viable as a Melbourne to Hobart rail link with 400km of deep level tunnel up to 300 meters underground .

In Australia and much of Asia it is considered too risky to book under 1 hour connections between long distance trains as 1 hour plus delays are common at anytime of the year. Infact nsw trainlink wont let you do it unless its considered a guaranteed connection where the connecting train will be...

Going on my experience with Asian countries Land border crossings where the few km between the 2 checkpoints is a no mans land and is normally heavily militarized. So I would expect a no deal brexsit to bring a similar tense situation at borders. Some of the asian borders even require a change...

This is a lesson in not booking tight connections. The old rules of allow 2 hours between long distance trains and 1 hour for any local trains. Should avoid most of the problems. If its a once or twice daily service you allow at least 3 hours incase of major delays. I have seen long distance...

I would have assumed that each side of the English Channel would have required a immigration and customs checkpoint station that would require all passengers to leave the train and reboard each side of the English Channel. This would be a serious border frontier where visas for onward travel...

I hope NSW Trainlink does go for diesel tilt trains as it has potential to cut traveling times and maybe even offer a smoother ride too. The current XPT stock is 37 years old and DMUs are about 25 to 30 years old. The failure rates are increasing on all of this rolling stock. The rolling...

This is something of great concern for me as I have a disabled friend who sometimes goes on long distance trains with me but he is not only in a wheelchair but he is a very big person in general. So far we have never had to be evacuated off the train mid route. But until this topic I had not...

This probably also explains why Queensland is the place in Australia to successfully use tilt trains in regular service. Plus they still do to this day. In NSW with the NSW trainlink regional train replacement program it has been wondered will they adopt tilt train technology eventhough it was...

This is something I have wondered too especially when I travel with a disabled friend who needs ramps to access the train normally. Luckily it hasn't happened yet but he wouldn't be able to climb down to the tracks or walk out to a level crossing which could be miles away to await bus transport...

Thanks for that. Its good that some diesel services still operate directly in and out of london. I find diesel trains and along with steam trains nicer to look at and ride than most electric trains. Especially commuter EMUs. Not only that I find the diesels handle extreme weather better as...