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Passengers at Markinch, Kirkaldy, Inverkeithing and Edinburgh Gateway had other trains to catch to get to Edinburgh. Passengers going to those locations had another train they could get 40 minutes later at Perth. Remember that the driver, conductor and train almost certainly will be heading...

I suggest a Durham bypass because it's a semi-plausible intervention in the North East. There's a good case for some sort of extra pair of tracks between Darlington and Newcastle to separate freight and fast passenger services. I think that if a line is to be opened along the rough outline of...

I don't think it's just a political thing. Glasgow and the wider Strathclyde region represent a very significant chunk of the Scottish economy. Any expensive scheme that wouldn't benefit it would need to benefit other regions by a very, very large amount for that scheme to be justified on a...

Is the case for Scotland-NE England links strong enough to justify going beyond classic line improvements though? Bypass Durham and you've got a fairly consistent 125mph railway all the way from Doncaster to Newcastle, without needing to invest in any special new rolling stock or services...

IIRC there were also reliability problems with the existing Tightlock couplers. Also, the 334s weren't compatible with the BR EMUs anyway, so there was no loss of utility in switching to Dellners.

A Morpeth bypass might just be viable as an NR project of a similar scale to the Norton Bridge works. Even a 100mph limit would have a major benefit to journey times. It could tie in to general rail improvements for the North East by providing a good passing loop for express trains to overtake...

At Rainham the train would be only a few minutes from entering the Stratford-Barking tunnel. After that, the only fresh air is in the Stratford box, or if they activate the numerous safety systems available in the tunnel. Had the alarm gone off too late to stop before the tunnel, they would...

It is great to see ScotRail and Transport Scotland taking full advantage of the late BR EMU glut now available. Those extra 5 EMUs might well be the key to marginal service improvements being implemented, e.g. extending some Cumbernauld terminators to Abronhill or even Falkirk; or adding a...

What is the problem an Ellon reopening is trying to solve? From those figures, it looks like whatever the problem is, the answer is unlikely to be a new heavy rail line. Is it really that important for a park and ride to be on the outskirts of Ellon, rather than on the AWPR? The...

Electrification, resignalling and junction improvements on the South Sub are absolutely required for later work at Waverley and projects across Scotland. Even though there is no direct benefit to passengers, it'll allow electric freight and passenger ECS services to avoid Waverley in the peak...

You're the one claiming that HS2 is pointless. If so, why is the Treasury dishing out the cash? Either there is a grand conspiracy whereby the Treasury is deliberately making the wrong funding decision, or they think HS2 is a good use of money.

If the Treasury is so unwilling to dish out cash for such worthy projects as Pacer replacement, why are they so willing to give out tens of billons for new high speed rail? Surely Andrew Adonis didn't cast a spell on all the staff in 1 Horse Guards Road and get them to approve something without...

The photo on the previous page seems to indicate that there's only one first class section though? Unless they just hadn't got around to putting on the yellow vinyls at both, which seems unlikely as the whole train is properly liveried otherwise.

It's the clearances at stations which cause the most problems. That's where you have the fewest options to provide clearance, and all of them are more expensive and disruptive. In a built up area around a station, it's much harder to add in a temporary bridge or to get rid of it completely...

The new Stadler sets for Merseyrail are being fitted with batteries for depot shunting work. Fitting a few battery modules to a train is not going to be a particularly challenging task. The 379 IPEMU trial seemed to just involve swapping out the toilet retention tank for a battery pack large...

The viability of a station at Newburgh depends on how well served it could be. I don't think 1tp2h would be good enough to justify the station when the alternative is to go down to Ladybank and have use of the Dundee trains too. It looks like it's yet another project which depends on/would...

Or, you could use all that electric car technology to allow neutral sections at stations. There's no problem fitting 25kV AC on 99% of a route, and any costs incurred there would be the same for any other electrification type. The problem for the new standards is that OHLE low enough to fit...

Here's something to think about. How many ScotRail services don't call at Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central or Glasgow Queen Street? Just the Far North and Inverness-Aberdeen trains? ScotRail is incredibly Central Belt-centric, because Scotland itself is. The number of trains which politicians...

Hmm. Hitachi haven't exactly showered themselves with glory so far. I had high hopes based on the experience with the Javelin introduction. Hopefully when they do enter service there won't be many teething problems.

It goes to show how off-line rail improvements are so often the best way to get things done. They could use standard construction teams, tools and timescales to build a station and then have just a long blockade to swap the new section in.