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As I boarded the heavily delayed 16.19 off Peterborough - Stevenage, a northbound HST pulled in, and an announcement was made that this service would be terminating and that passengers should not board. The trailing PC, 43290 was idling, but sounding very metallic, and clearly all was not...

There was a written answer to a parliamentary question in the Scottish Parliament on Friday: - "David Stewart (Labour) | Question S3W-38689 To ask the Scottish Executive whether the trial upgrading of the engines on the current Turbostar train rolling stock has been successful. Keith Brown...

The latest Railway Herald has a great photo of the new Class 379 EMU on its cover and it's prompted a few questions, which hopefully, someone on here who's well informed can answer: - 1. There appears to be a single lamp on the non-driving side of the front end, at low level (it's about...

There were reports in yesterday's papers saying that the Government is going to plant two million trees around HS2 between London and Birmingham, to mitigate the issues of noise and visual blight. Have they really thought this through? If they plant the trees too close to the line, they...

Stansted Express services are down to half-hourly today, with all stopping Harlow Town and Bishop's Stortford (normally every quarter hour with most alternating between B-S and H-T). The explanation given was "rolling stock shortage". Does anybody have any background? Cutting the service by...

I caught a Manchester Piccadilly - Euston service this afternoon. As we departed Stoke, the SC announced that due to a bridge bash, the service would be diverted via Stafford and that we would probably arrive M-K and Euston at least 15 mins down. As it turned out, we arrived right time. Two...

In connection with this thread, would you pay a fare uplift to be able to replace a Pacer with a new DMU, say a 172? Remember, this would not guarantee you a seat on the shiny new train, because we're only talking about replacing one old vehicle with another new vehicle.

Network Rail has issued a Press Notice, publicising what it describes as a preview of the new 12 car services on Thameslink. Am I missing something? The notice explains that height checks and stepping distance checks were carried out on the new, extended platforms. Surely, the same checks...

Today's Financial Times is reporting that Eurostar has named Siemens as its preferred bidder for some new trains. Does anybody know anything about this? I didn't even know that Eurostar was in the running for new trains, and I'm supposed to know about these things! I don't even recollect...

The long awaited Foster Review into the value for money offered by the Agility Super Express solution for the Inter City Express Programme has been published and is available for download at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/iep/fosterreview/pdf/report.pdf It is understood that the report was...

I use the West Anglia from Bishop's Stortford to Liverpool Street regularly and at peak times pay extra to travel First Class so that I can get a seat. Generally, eight car formations operate, some starting at Ely, some at Cambridge and some at Stansted Airport, and there are mix of 317/5...

For those that are interested in what the politicians have to say, there is video footage of last week's "Election 2010 - the Rail debate" on the rail debate web site at http://www.theraildebate.com

Irish Rail has issued a tender notice today for the repair of an Inter City DMU. "Irish Rail operates a large fleet of new DMUs manufactured by Hyundai-Rotem of Korea. There are 234 vehicles delivered or on order. The fleet entered service in Dec 2007 onwards.The vehicles are 23m end door...

DfT has today issued a press notice, announcing a seven and a half year extension to Chiltern's twelve and half year franchise, increasing it to 20 years. How strange, since the copy of the franchise agreement on the DfT web site, which was signed in 2002, clearly states that the franchise...

A thread on the General Discussion part of this forum, relating to Class 317 problems on Stansted Express caused by build up of snow has prompted me to ask this question. So, for an EMU or DMU, with 1/3 - 2/3 doors, doing commuter work, which is more appropriate? Exploring the pros and...

Any news regarding these? Last I heard, Bombardier was having some difficulty fitting the power packs to the first unit, due to interface issues.