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Mention of Man Vic and Birmingham New ST brought back some memories of threads a few years ago for the 10 worse stations in the county. I believe New st, Kirkgate, Man Vic and Sunderland were always in the top four or five. In a couple of years time all will have been done up extensively so...

Thanks. I did a bit of research and the ORR publish regular figures but doesn't break them down into companies only sectors. It also only includes numbers from DBS,DRS,FL and GBRF not the smaller operators which I thought a little strange.

I am doing some general research on the various FOC's with a view to applying for positions at one or two of them. I am trying to find some information on the businesses such as financial returns and market share. I know that they are not all independent companies having being bought out but is...

There must be an element of future proofing going on with the smaller FOC's with rolling stock provision. NR's NDS programme will provide some work but the value of the overall contract will not justify so many new locos. The freight market is growing but the growth seems to be in markets...

The key here is that any man in an uniform is a deterrent for the casual fare evader i.e the generally law abiding person. Determined evaders will avoid all but the strongest measures so agency staff probably represent good value as they will prevent much of the ad-hoc evasion.

I believe there are regular trains running from both Whitemoor and Crewe to Aldwarke containing cut up rail lengths. Considering the frequency and length of these trains there must be considerable amounts of rail being recovered at these locations. From my meagre knowledge of the scrap industry...

I recently used St Pancras after being out of the country for a few years. The EMT section is very constrained and 2 trains in one platform is an issue especially when it is not uncommon to see two trains running in multiple. Hence when you see two trains in the same platform it I not beyond the...

Couple of quick points - the railway is an asset with a value and until recently was being used to balance NR enormous debt on its balance sheet. NR don't seem to treat it much like an asset. They have a budget of many billions for the next control period - could not a tiny fraction not be put...

Is this news as such? With the country being run on an austerity basis, Network Rail having to find 20% savings in CP5 and councils having funding capped why would two heavily subsidised TOC's escape the cuts? Both these franchises have performed well financially (for their owners!) and are a...

Can anyone confirm exactly what is the scope of works currently being undertaken at Crewe station. I have seen various photos showing bits of the station being done up and the new entrance. This does seem to be being done in a fairly piecemeal fashion. Is there an overall plan of any sort - will...

It is a moot point now but the total abandonment of Speedlink in the 90's does seem to have been a tad premature. The advent of the Channel Tunnel and the proliferation of FOC's does make one wonder if some sort of wagonload traffic option could have been retained. For a new client looking at...

Do DCR still have a flow running from Wembley with spoil?

One criticism levelled at the railways over the years has been inflexibility and the inability to respond to short term requirements or run flows on a speculative basis. The advent of privatisation and competition does seem to have partly addressed this issue. If DBS dont consider a flow to be...

Isn't there some major work planned at BTM in the near future? I believe the old Brunel trainshed is to be brought back into use. Has there been a timetable confimed for this work and is anything else planned? Also anyone know if the rather ugly parcel lift is to be removed at this time?

Reading this thread you could start to believe that railfreight inn the UK is struggling. The latest report published by the ORR showed a big increase in both tonnage lifted and distance/tonnage measures. Perrhaps with relevance to this thread the only sector to see a year on year decrease was...

The London destination was Cricklewood. The wagons were unloaded inside the old locomotive depot which was taken over for the purpose. Both of the trains were booked for class 47 haulage. One other slightly disgusting fact about Pedigree at Melton is that they used to receive wagonloads of...

Railfreight could be construed as expensive by many potential customers due to the lack of a less than trainload (or wagonload) option. When Speedlink was thrown away and wagon load freight run down in the 80's and 90's the losses were pretty insignificant when compared to the kinds of numbers...

The joys of a mixed use privatised railway! I suppose the argument can be flipped by the FOC's who can have 2,000 tonne trains blocked by a failed DMU carrying a handful of passengers. I suppose this will always come down to money and a number cruncher somewhere will work out the correct...

Guess cost would be the issue and who would be picking up the bill. Using the same logic there are many secondary through routes which could command the same consideration. One thing that might happen is the delay minutes might convince the FOC's it was worth banding together to put a...

The point has been made hat the average fare is around 5 pounds. How much lower should fares be? Of course there are very high walk up anytime fares bu the vast majority of fares sold are heavily discounted - either through season tickets or advances etc (ORR said something like 70% of fares...