new electrified railway from Okehampton to Bodmin via Launceston.........

Won't be holding my breath...

https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/cornwall-rail-connection-plans-gain-momentum-with-kernow-connect-scheme-906262

 
I haven't seen this mentioned on the forum and only first learned of it today - more details here - https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/cornwall-rail-connection-plans-gain-momentum-with-kernow-connect-scheme-906262
Interesting. It raises many questions!

A useful infographic on the project is attached

 
From the BBC:

 
This topic has been moved to Heritage railways, Railtours, buses, canals, steamships and other public transport based attractions.

https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=19172.0

 
Some thoughts on what might be desirable outcomes:

Rolling stock that is compatible with other rolling stock in terms of couplings and inter-operability

Enough rolling stock to provide services that don't become crammed with passengers

An amount of spare capacity so that "more trains needing repairs than normal" does not result in cancellations

Traincrews that can work different types of rolling stock/multiple units/locos rather than having limited and specialised capabilities

Trains running on different routes that provide proper connections at stations where they meet

Improved attention to important basics like lineside vegetation and waterways/drains clearance

Reduction in cash spent on consultants to tell railway managers stuff they should already know

Enough spare traction at strategic locations so that failed trains are not stranded for hours on end waiting rescue

 
Less legroom.
Fewer tables.
Shorter trains.
No buffets.

 

The cost of a ticket from A to B, whether walk-up ticket or a discounted Advance ticket, to be the same, whether bought direct from GBR or from a third-party retailer (in other words, third-party retailers should not be allowed to undercut the 'official' price; and all proceeds to be put back into the railways.

 
Many electric scooters are already carried on trains.

 
On Saturday I was at Bosham station when a train went down the other track (towards Chichester). I "belatedly" noticed it was in GWR livery with a Southern logo in the side. Gone before I could fully take it in.

 
So - what may the next 15 years bring for Great British Railways as a track and train nationalised organisation?   As I was travelling yesterday, I jotted down some possibilities - positive and negative - for the passenger.    Which would be a result of GBR and which might have come anyway, whoever operates the services, I know not.    What I do know is that there are may positive and negative outcomes possible in future years - anything from radical positive change to negative changes, via stagnation and direction changing where (IMHO) long term thought and planning would be best.

Here are 90 items I came up with, ranging from the probable to the fanciful ...

     1   A requirement to scan in and out at the end of each ticket -
     2   A trustworthy fare system so we can just swipe in and out and know the cost +
     3   Advance fare quotas at lower fares reduced or even eliminated -
     4   All named trains and rolling stock to have names removed -
     5   All new trains to be British built +
     6   An end to the go-stop-go of franchise and management contract changes +
     7   And end to operator and government blaming each other; more FOI +
     8   Cash ticket sales only available at independent shops -
     9   Catering counters on long distance trains +
    10   Catering withdrawn from journeys under 200 minutes -
    11   Charge for baggage on seats +
    12   Charge for big people occupying 2 (or more!) seats -
    13   Charge for cycle parking at station +
    14   Charge for use of on-train loos -
    15   Charges for dogs and bicycles carried by train -
    16   Charges for use of luggage space -
    17   Closure on inconvenient stations -
    18   Connections being improved across previous-operator boundaries +
    19   Consistent fare system +
    20   Delay repay claims to be made to causer of delay - e.g. freight operator or God (as in "act of god") -
    21   Delay/Repay being phased out or made leaner -
    22   Electrification extended only in marginal constituencies -
    23   Electric scooters to be allowed on trains +
    24   Elimination of lots of delay attribution but retain knowledge correction +
    25   End of peak times - same fare any time +
    26   Eurostar service to be nationalised too and extended to Welsh and Scottish capitals +
    27   Extra local stops added into long distance trains -
    28   Fewer fare options with better value ones being removed -
    29   Fewer staffed stations -
    30   First class abolished -
    31   First class on turbos re-instated in the 2+2 saloons -
    32   Free travel for health service employees +
    33   Government agencies being judge, jury and advocates for all side when things go wrong -
    34   Groupsave removed in the interest of uniformity -
    35   Halts to be built at many bridges, with local trains provided at which train manager locks / unlocks gate +
    36   ID required when travelling by train -
    37   Improved services only provided if supported by Council Tax -
    38   Investment into improved infrastucture +
    39   Local Transport authorities getting more and funded regional autonomy +
    40   Longer term network-wide service planning +
    41   Longer trains +
    42   Managers and those with customer responsibility require to use the train / stations they are responsible for +
    43   More / all trains becoming driver only operated +
    44   More comfortable seats +
    45   More electrification and battery trains +
    46   Nationalisation of catering on station premises -
    47   Network and other regional railcards being scrapped -
    48   New generation of double deck trains (low deck between bogies) to increase capacity +
    49   New lines and stations opened where appropriate +
    50   New railcard available to all - loyalty cards with progressive discount +
    51   Off peak and super off peak being reduced in time -
    52   Older trains not replaced -
    53   Onward travel to be guaranteed between all public transport in, to and from UK +
    54   Operating "company" free to replace trains by buses whenever they chose -
    55   Peak fares on late evening trains -
    56   Peak fares to reflect peak travel times, not when rail can get away with it -
    57   Price-per-mile based fare system +
    58   Pullman dining and sleeper services no longer running -
    59   Quieter services being culled -
    60   Radical new fare system, based on 10p per mile +
    61   Reduction in shareholder dividends +
    62   Reduction of signalling to stop-and-proceed on level crossings -
    63   Reductions in line speed / maintenance to lower standards -
    64   Removal of financial support to Community Rail Partnerships -
    65   Requirement to hold insurance when travelling by train -
    66   Reservations no longer being free -
    67   Seats in IETs replaces by wooden slat benches in a fit of honesty -
    68   Security scanners at platform entrances -
    69   Services improved to meet passenger and community aspirations and needs +
    70   Services to be reduced where an open access operator has rights to run trains -
    71   Staff motivation activity - "write in and tell us your best experience"  +
    72   Station and train cleaning halved -
    73   Stations to be closed when platforms are icy -
    74   Stations to be gated by 2035; passenger join single door for ticket checks at other stations +
    75   Stations without Access for All to be closed to ensure 100% accessible network -
    76   Statutory right to Community Rail input with elected passenger representatives +
    77   Sunday services reduced to solve staffing issues -
    78   System to let passengers easily call up a taxi and charge if their journey fails +
    79   Through ticketing across all stations and other public transport in Europe +
    80   Ticket transferrable between buses and trains +
    81   Ticket valid via any route offering the fastest journey at that time of day +
    82   Train routes to be split to ensure better reliability, through passengers changing -
    83   Train service frequency reductions -
    84   Trains slowed to improve timekeeping -
    85   Trains to be operated by GBR onwards over heritage lines by right +
    86   Trains to be repainted in a uniform, nationalistic livery +
    87   Transfer of away-from-track maintenance and funding responsibility to local autorities -
    88   Transport focus reports being purely academic -
    89   UK rover tickets being priced the same for UK residents as for overseas visitors +
    90   Update of service level algorithms to more consider social need and environment +
    91   Updating system to develop timetables and train lengths to best suit needs +

As just headlines, these may need further explanation - please ask in comments, and please add your own options. 

 

Surely about time he went home?

 
Two to guess.

 
There will doubtless be an attempt to close down the sleeper service.

 
Steve McCulloch has journeyed between Windsor and Eton Central to Maidenhead since 1974.  ITN  and on other media websites.

 

I wonder if cost cutting may take the form of reinvigorating the ticket office closure programme and other peripheral services rather than the core business of running trains?

 
Yup, the DfT that, presented with the 'Opportunities' of a rebuilt London Bridge station, thought it was an opportunity to cut services,  tidy up the use of the crossover at Lewisham - and also ramp up the number of passengers that needed to use London Bridge as an interchange, severing a slew of through services to places that people want to go (no offence intended, Cannon Street). Said changes were grudgingly and very partially rolled back, but South Eastern services there are still not what they were.

It would be rewarding for the likes of the following approach - an inclusive strategy scorecard - to have a variety that takes a deep dive into rail transport and evaluated the network for improvements in the routes it offers - e.g. interregional services have dwindled but that's not always as a result of decline in popularity and passenger numbers. Useful for everyone and particularly useful for two groups: 'Encumbered travellers' and disabled people.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-transport-strategy-scorecard/inclusive-strategy-scorecard-summary-of-key-changes-between-2019-and-2023

Mark

 

Pity porterbrook haven't fitted a class 350/2 with batteries and 3rd rail does as a demonstrator for the north downs line

 
Perhaps a French union might be able to provide one of these for Sunday services?

https://www.eurogunzel.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Les-cheminots-ont-manifest%C3%A9-dans-le-centre-de-Nice-en-ce-lundi-sans-train-video-by-France-3-Provence-Alpes-C%C3%B4te-dAzur.jpg

 
Unfortunately, cost cutting is likely their first starter-for-ten, so don't expect additional services anytime soon - especially those that can still be travelled with a change of train. You might persuade (if you can find anyone to talk to with any clout) them to timetable the change better

 

Some of East Midlands Railway’s Class 158s are being refurbished at Bristol Barton Hill depot. I strongly suspect that it was one of these that you saw (East Midlands Trains having a very similar livery to South West Trains, thanks to their common former franchise parent company, Stagecoach).

 
The Melksham campaign was gratifyingly far-reaching (not least that it was audible from far and wide). Hearing of the campaign I recall a rail trip to Melksham to attend a produ tive meeting you hosted in your training room, it's really good that the campaign reminded the industry of what it needed to be doing (even if one of the things the Melksham service needs - and indeed the benefits would be more widespread - that is, more appropriate infrastructure to provide for the traffic the line's handling even at the present day not to mention its potential).

Then... the forum... finding that the thriving Bristol - Waterloo service that I used regularly, and earmarked by the previous franchise for increased provision as it obviously had unmet potential - was about to go in the bin completely, courtesy of the DfT and their friends in the viral community, putting an ear into the forum the impending demise of the service seemed to be rather flying under the radar both within this forum and within various railway support and promotion groups - something that quickly changed. Even though the DfT was unable to swallow its pride and the Bristol - Waterloo service went, I'm still very grateful to all the people who spoke up and worked in support of changing that decision. Given the changes to travel patterns served by the railway I'm hopeful that the railway industry has this service on a peg somewhere and ready to be taken down off the wall - it's a good fit for this "Less commuting / more travel to education / travel to friends / travel for events / travel for tourism / car-free travel / travel that meets accessibility needs" interlude.

Mark

 
Don't get too excited Mark !  I seem to recollect some years back that GWR were using a SWT set of rolling stock for some time when they were short of trains.  A repeat, perhaps ?

 

It's a bit of a giveaway on the direction that a nationalised railway might take that the present government didn't set to work to address the results of the cognitive dissonance on full display with the decision to unilaterally axe the Handsacre to Crewe leg of the thing.

The route's safeguarding was lifted in January 24 and the current government was elected in July of that year.

It's now been well aired that decisions taken since then now risk the likes of Manchester's train service seeing little acceleration in terms of end to end times and for good measure, fewer seats.

The current government really needed to reset the sense of ambition on this one - and it's something that would help them with one of their other tasks, which is to prevent the government that follows this one being of the sort that will cancel the entire project, no matter what is its state of completion when 2029 comes around. It has to be said that a cancelled HS2 would leave a remarkable series of monuments across the south midlands, but in a way the land aquisition for HS2 phase 2a, pretty well complete, while less obvious on the ground, was in itself an achievement and an asset for the railway that the UK is going to need. Without it, users of the M6 and the West Coast Main Line can look forward to increasing disruption, congestion, costs and general underachievement.

Mark

 

Being trialled on a Class 166 Turbo by the looks of it.

Timescales?  Probably well after GWR goes under DfT control I would imagine, and the fact that is happening in December means it will likely take longer to be approved and fincanced IMHO as waters will be muddied until GBR is established and up and running.

 
A few weeks ago, seen from a passing train, a SWR 2 carriage 159 set tucked away in the depot east of Bristol Temple Meads. The first time I've seen one anywhere in Bristol since *inserts obvious era*.

Mark

 
A cautious approach considering upholstery is a very mature technology. It'd be good to see a timescale for this.

Mark

 


The GWR Bumper Sunday BBQ Recipe Book".... surely a best seller just waiting to be published?

 
I often write to help me remember, and to clear fact in my head by putting them down "on paper". I publish / comment where that may be of even minimal benign interest and - I admit - I do love (and thank you) for the odd bit of feedback.  Just occasionally, something takes off.  Late last week (Friday announcement - they usually are) was that our train franchise / operating contract will move from the commercial company First group to a government company on 13th December, and I explain on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/graham.ellis.melksham/posts/pfbid02LaM9mBLwKh6E8aP2ctVt1Cwz83p5C1GQUpCWGPgjkiALwdDPQWEQHuoQq5jG5k9bl and shared on our forum at https://www.passenger.chat/r32002.html a sorta-explanation of what it might mean, what some expectations are, and what it might mean in practise. 

Reducing it down to most basic terms, it's going to be very much down to government decisions, and decisions by their now-civil-servants who know (or don't know) what they are doing, and political direction / interference with things like stop-go funding and popularity aspects as to where it goes, and how much is left to the best people to chose in many cases with some potentially hard decisions that not everyone agrees.

My forum post has been read 407 times as I write, my Facebook post has had an astonishing 91,000 views from an estimated 57,000 people - and with 4,500 clicking through to read it and nearly 100 comments so far in addition to "likes",  suggesting I have hit a nerve.  Thank you for the comments - they are so valuable and they help inform me so much better of the mood and thoughts of interested parties, and over the next couple of days, I'll be looking ahead as to what may and may not occur.  There is evidence, by the way, that the numbers are genuine; 97% from the UK which I would not expect where I simply being harvested by automata for search engines and AI, and the depth of replies on Facebook confirm I have really reached new readers.   

Perhaps this bodes well for the future - confirms there is a broad spectrum, of interested and concerned parties out there willing to express their views and inputs.  On a personal note, it confirms that I am something of a minor influencer and nothing more I love than to see (for example) our local train working.  On Thursday, about 5 p.m., I got off the train at Swindon and was approached by a chap returning to Melksham / Trowbridge / Westbury.  "Are you Graham Ellis" he asked, and when I confirmed he thanked me - right back to out petition 20 years ago and all the other activities that have helped up have *that* service he was about to use.  Of course, I don't actually run the trains, and I have many, many people who help - I am a bit of a figurehead - but it really gives me a warm feeling of being part of achieving something and make my activity worthwhile.