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Agreed, although there are fairly obvious question marks about the rigour of oversight and the degree of openness/competition. Another government could easily interpret the issue differently.

I assume the idea would be that because there are two routes - London - Scotland that there is 'theoretically' a choice of service and hence competition between the two (and all the benefits that this entails). If the two routes are controlled by the same company then there is no competition...

Why shouldn't it appear? Is it not a monopoly? I'd always assumed that the separation of East and West Coast and the idea that they were two separate companies was to provide a veneer that it was not a monopoly.

I am just curious, wasn't the idea of VTEC that it meant that Virgin weren't seen as having a monopoly on services, and Stagecoach also not being seen as having a monopoly either. Does this rebranding as Virgin Trains not violate the principle that was established that they were 'different'...

Very occasionally, the trains would be reported as 'full and standing' but this was normally if there had been cancellations. You should be able to get a seat. Normally seats go by Guildford.

Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway? Closed 1917. I think there are a couple of others that closed during WW1. The impact of 1929 can not be understated in terms of the long term future of the railways.

The thing that strikes me about modernisation is how despite nationalisation, regional fiefdoms still existed, this seems to have meant that modernisation was less than coherent in terms of its vision. we can add into this all the various different DMU designs and that the Southern had...

You could probably make the same argument - the loss of regional railways, in favour of London-centric railway companies, resulted in a shift in emphasis away from those regions, damaging their long term economic interests and making them subordinate to the interests of London. Where as Wales...

The article notes this quite well:

An interesting article and arguments. http://www.citymetric.com/transport/end-lancashire-yorkshire-railway-meant-end-northern-economic-independence-1408

I found it dead easy to get them when we were there. The ticket machines are available in english which helps.

Polish airports tend to be pretty good when it comes to signs and communication. I had to get a bus into Warsaw from the airport and was worried about it the first time I went but it turned out to be super easy (indicator telling you the next stop (and the Saints day)) I don't know about IC...

Add into it Western Region going for Diesel Hydraulics while everyone else was going for DE. Class 14 - 56 - withdrawn in less than 5 years Class 22 - 57 - withdrawn in less than 10 years Hymeks - 101 - withdrawn 10-15 years D600 - 5 - withdrawn in less than 10 years D800 (Swindon) - 42 -...

I've bought online for PKP and had no problems with it. For 4 zloty if it is easier than dealing with a babushka in a ticket booth I would do that. (assuming timings work). Enjoy Poland it is a great place.

Hi, I've had a look on the website and I tried to buy online tickets - while I could work out the price I couldn't actually buy the ticket. The PKP train is 4zty more and you can buy that online. http://rozklad-pkp.pl/en The Polish would be if buying in person (apologies if I am...

Thank you. A very interesting post. I think what I struggle to understand is how BR could make the decision to build standard classes and then decide to withdraw all steam so quickly. Which certainly gives them impression of BR as wasteful. I've read some articles from the 1960s that...

Apologies if this has been discussed before or this is the wrong place. I was thinking about how difficult it is to get the government to invest in the railways and this has been something that has been a feature for as long as I can remember. I can't help but wonder if some of the...

I did use one in an HST buffet car back in the day. They ate up your phone card like no ones business, the connection wasn't bad but I seem to recall it being very noisy and difficult to hear.

It is a little bit sad to see the 'Lets Go to Birmingham' video because the driver along with two others was killed in the Knowle and Dorridge accident

This website suggests it is Georgia http://www.wallisonwheels.net/2014/08/14-georgia.html