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https://www.railjournal.com/news/british-passenger-rail-numbers-reach-80-of-pre-covid-levels/ I find the speed of this rebound to be astonishing. Bearing in mind about 1 in 15 of the population has Covid, that might well be the missing 20%. Lots of things flow from this, such as, 1. What is...

I read a few years ago a theory that quite a lot of heat in the underground is seasonal and could be mitigated through the use of heat reflective paint so that the trains do not heat up as much in the above ground sections and then transfer that heat underground. I have since seen stories on...

I was on a circle line train today that fluffed pretty much every stop, stopping then having to move on a bit before the doors opened and braking so hard it sent passengers to the grab rails a few times. Is this likely to be something like a new driver finding their feet or a system issue?

Lots of exciting talk on night trains these days, particularly in Europe. Looks like Brussels and potentially Amsterdam shaping up to be good hubs to head east. My thinking is Eurostar should run one late train to Brussels when those services start up, the business model of which is to stuff it...

Spotted this at Crewe the other day next. It looks like a repainted Caledonian Sleeper carriage? Anybody idea what it is and what is being used for?

Moderator note: split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/porterbrook-cl-769-flex-trains-from-319s-initially-for-northern.138660/ Rather than give out piecemeal grants and having the odd piecemeal micro-fleet, it might be a good idea for the Government to designate Northern a...

How serious could this be for the operation of the railways? The obvious one is staff shortages if staff are asked to self-isolate. What other problems/measures do forum members think might result from a more general outbreak in the UK? Are there any defined protocols for this type of situation?

The dispensation has been issued. It is for a lot of trains not a few. Government has predictably blamed TOCs. Should the Goverment be sued? For: The Government is basically another Tory rehash of the same Government that has failed to get a grip of general TOC performance and has also directly...

Lots of flooding around the country at the moment and lots of disruption to rail services. It will be interesting to see how the Conwy Valley line holds up this week. Do forum members feel we are reaching a point with any of these flooding/landslip problems where we can say, 'this is now...

Which do people think is the superior unit? One is quite old (and its sister fleet at Heathrow Express is about to be turned into cans). One is brand spanking new. Both will be running on the same routes in West Yorkshire. Both are by the same manufacturer. My vote is the 333 because: - the...

Hi. I am not sure if this is the place to post and I hope not a repeat but equally can't believe it is the first time it has been raised. Every WMT Birmingham to Liverpool I have caught recently has 3 plus 2 seating. I don't use the route much but more now than previously. Is this normal...

As I walked through Lime Street this evening I noted how clean the roof has remained since it was restored some years ago. This prompted a thought. Once the new Northern, Transpennine and LNER fleets have been fully introduced, which of the 4 stations is likely to see the highest proportion of...

There are a huge amount of trains currently in line to be scrapped. Some of them have pretty decent seats. Is there any scope to upcycle them to trains with pretty poor seating? One example is the Merseyrail fleet. Could they go to replace some of the substandard seating on some of the...

Lots of trains that should have had passengers sitting/sleeping in them by now. Lots of implications for passengers, builders, funders, operators etc. How do we feel it compares to average previous performance with new fleets. It is obviously not possible to be precise in for instance...

I think I have read that British Rail ordered loads of Mark III sleeper carriages in the early 1980's only to scrap most of them later that decade. Tell me this is not true? If it is, when added to the Nightstar fiasco this would explain where the entire budget for decent trains in the north has...

I saw a refreshed class 378 at Higbury and Islington last night. Do we know why these trains are being refreshed and how much it is costing? The exterior paint and the interior fabric seemed absolutely fine to me. They are all pretty new trains with some even newer carriages. Unless I am...

So this is a question the ROSCO's must be facing. Interested in forum member's views. ROSCO's have lots of EMUs coming off lease. If they have older EMUs in another franchise, how does their decision making process run. Are they better to go to those franchises and say we will offer you newer...

This came to me whilst looking another thread and might be gibberish but bear with me. Could a new service from Clapham Junction to Blackfriars be feasible? The Clapham area is in need of the pressure taking off on all fronts. Services into Victoria and Waterloo are crush loaded from Clapham...

Another day of ridiculous cancellations on Northern Rail. I have been affected by a lack of Southport to Wigan service. A ridiculous exchange with the Northern Facebook team has led to the gibberish answer that these are planned cancellations because of things like engineering works but not...

The railways obviously use huge amounts of power. How good is NR and prioritising saving cash on this, as well as reducing emissions? As an example I have just been through the Thameslink core. All the lights are on at the OLD Kings Cross Thameslink station and at at City Thameslink (closed...