Search results

The BBC is reporting (in the context of reviewing Welsh devolution more generally) that the DfT is talking to the WG about full devolution for the Wales & Borders franchise. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-21676260

Journeyed up to Euston today from Chester, switching to the 0829 (ex Manchester) at Crewe for a Pendolino ride. I was immediately surprised to see the Highland Sleeper calling in P12 at 0800, 138min down according to realtraintimes. We followed 30 minutes later, but sure enough we (and...

The DfT has announced extra benefits to passengers on LM services, to compensate for the recent cancellations disruption. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-secures-free-travel-for-london-midland-passengers It covers free days for season-ticket holders and more cheap advance...

Dan Milmo (who called the initial West Coast franchise award to FirstGroup) is reporting in the Guardian that commercial close with Siemens might be posted on Friday 21st. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/16/fresh-blow-bombardier-thameslink-contract?INTCMP=SRCH It will then move to...

Virgin Trains has published an ORR report on its web site compiled by Chris Gibb who has been working with Network Rail on improving the performance of WCML South, which continues to be well below acceptability. http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/wcs-reliability-programme-191112.pdf...

The Welsh Government has published studies into the options for transport improvement in north-east Wales (Flint/Deeside/Mold/Wexham/Chester). http://wales.gov.uk/docs/det/publications/121108newabtsreport.pdf To be honest, it is mostly about the road system and what to do about the...

There was an old thread on here asking where the Liverpool and Manchester Railway's 0-4-2 Lion of 1838 had got to. It's here: in the Museum of Liverpool at the Pier Head. It is displayed along with much Liverpool transport memorabilia, including an Overhead Railway coach. It is of course a...

Some pics from today on the Chat Moss line (in pretty poor weather). Balfour Beatty is now installing tubular piles over Chat Moss proper. Starting from the M60 bridge there is a nearly continuous couple of miles or so of these piles, towards Astley. The pics show a group of these laid out...

NW electrification is in full swing, and time to the first in-service date for local services (Dec 2014) is ticking away. This is for routes from Liverpool - currently to Warrington BQ, Manchester Airport, Manchester Victoria/Stalybridge (all 1tph) and Wigan (3tph, one starting from LSP and...

I found this in the Independent : http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/10-ways-to-fix-our-railways-8200238.html?origin=internalSearch Essentially it's a 10-point open letter to ATOC and the DfT about the fares system and how it is retailed. I can't help but agree with most...

At the risk of setting off another thread of bi-polar posts on Welsh politics, I will just note that the draft Welsh Budget 2013/14 published today scarcely mentions rail. http://wales.gov.uk/docs/caecd/publications/121001draftbudgetnarrative1314.pdf is about the only positive statement. The...

I have used these excellent-value tickets before, and am now wondering about the small print of starting late/ending short. This is the sort of thing that gets British TOCs angry with the equivalent (Advance) tickets, and they insist on the exact point-to-point journey being made. What I...

I am always surprised to see old pictures of non-GW stations which clearly have a forest of lower-quadrant signals (eg Preston, Aberdeen). Are there any lower-quadrant semaphores of non-Great Western origin still existing on NR lines? If not, when did the last one disappear? In its collection...

Small rant here. I was passing the First Class Lounge at Stoke on Trent today, and it had a rather tatty notice on the door saying: "Entry only for holders of Virgin Trains First Class Tickets. First class tickets of any other operator are, unfortunately, not accepted". I am aware this is...

The DfT has now published the ITT for the next GW 15-year franchise. http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/great-western-franchise-2013/ Lots of detail to absorb (Crossrail, IEP, electrification, ETCS etc). The bidders seem to have a free hand on rolling stock other than IEP. The train...

The deal with Agility-Hitachi is done: http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20120725a 92 trains, 596 vehicles, rollout on GW starts 2017. Nothing about set composition. Depots at Bristol, Swansea, "West London" and Doncaster (not Sheffield as was mooted). 730 jobs at Newton...

Doing the sums, Network Rail now has approval to wire over 900 miles of double track. This is the split over the various NR Routes: LNW 215 miles Lancashire Triangle and TP as far as Diggle 106 Bletchley-Bedford/Bicester 35 Nuneaton-Coventry-Leamington-Heyford 74...

I have just returned from a tour in Central Europe, visiting Munich, Vienna, Prague, Dresden and Frankfurt. I did not encounter a single ticket barrier in any of these cities, using trains, trams and buses (usually using local travelcard-type day tickets). There were also precious few on-board...

This has popped up on the DfT web site http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/essex-thameside-franchise It was due in "June", but has overtaken the GW ITT which was due in "May". I'm not a specialist in the LTS world, but I was interested to see that new rolling stock was not ruled out in the...

This appears to be the new name of the combined FCC/Southern franchise, coming from Thameslink Southern Great Northern. It is used in the consultation paper for the 2014 South Eastern franchise renewal published by the DfT today...