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Sideshoots - associated subjects / The Lighter Side / Re: vote for your favourite rail leaf cleaner
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on: Yesterday at 16:34:47
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A simpler method for a start would be to re establish the 5 metres back from the cess flail strip railway standard, to at least remove the now widespread tree, bushes, buddleia and bramble etc lineside growth that increasingly comes into contact and scratches trains paintwork etc.. viz IETs▸ on the Newquay branch as just one example.
Also on the line between Trowbridge and Melksham, and on to Chippenham: on a recent journey, I was somewhat startled at the amount of foliage which was hitting the train as we passed.  |
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Journey by Journey / London to the West / Major work to replace banks at Powderham to protect rail line
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on: Yesterday at 16:25:51
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From the BBC» : Major work to replace banks to protect rail line The main railway line from Exeter to Plymouth and into Cornwall runs alongside the Exe Estuary
Major work is needed to protect the main rail line through Devon and into Cornwall, the Environment Agency says. The line between Exeter and Dawlish runs along the Exe Estuary and bosses fear water is eroding the ground underneath the track. The Environment Agency said it was working with Network Rail to plan "a full replacement of the banks" at Powderham, just south of Exeter. A climate change expert said rail infrastructure along the coast would face increasing challenges in the coming years. Urgent work has already been carried out to repair a section of the embankment at Powderham after a hole appeared there in September 2023. An Environment Agency spokesman said it was working with Network Rail "to improve resilience" at Powderham. The spokesman said: "We are now in the early stages of planning a full replacement of the banks to ensure the railway line, properties within Exminster and the Exminster Marshes reserve are protected.” The Environment Agency and Network Rail said they were monitoring the embankment through the winter for any immediate issues. The agency had previously said it was concerned by the age and construction of the embankment, worsened by burrowing animals and water passing through it. Prof Richard Betts, who is a specialist in climate impact from the University of Exeter, said: "There are potential concerns anywhere where you're near the sea because sea levels are rising and global temperatures are increasing because of human-caused climate change. We could see erosion of the ground next to the water. If there are stormy conditions that would increase and you could see waves splashing onto tracks and onto trains."  Bryony Chetwode represents the passenger group Travelwatch South WestTwo trains became "stranded" on Sunday in very wet weather - one at Dawlish and another at Teignmouth - with the cause being investigated. The planned work at Powderham was welcomed by Bryony Chetwode from the passenger group Travelwatch South West. She said: "The work on the bank is really good news but I think more widely across the region we need to be planning to fail. There are going to be occasions when the weather wins and what a passenger needs to know is they're going to be able to get there somehow." Ms Chetwode said a "second strategic route" was needed along with "fleets of buses" to pick up passengers when the rail network failed. Devon County Council deputy leader Andrea Davis, who is chairwoman of Peninsula Transport, which brings transport bodies together in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, said: "With sea level rises which we know are predicted to go up, we do know there is an issue. There is a taskforce going out there from Network Rail, working with the Environment Agency, looking at those predictions and the areas of the rail network that are most susceptible to future flooding." |
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Aberthaw Power Station and Decarbonisation
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on: October 03, 2024, 21:43:05
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In prison, possibly? From Wikipedia: In September 2024, Danish police apprehended Thunberg during a pro-Palestinian protest in Copenhagen against the Israel–Hamas war. Thunberg, along with five others, were detained after blocking the entrance to a building at the University of Copenhagen. Less than a week later, she was "carried out" from the library of Stockholm University by Stockholm police after she participated in an encampment inside the library. She characterized the police response as a "repression". Following those incidents, she was labeled 'antisemite of the week' by StopAntisemitism.
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All across the Great Western territory / Meet the Manager / Meet the Director, 3 October - an update
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on: October 03, 2024, 21:35:04
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I was involved only in the Coffee Shop forum 'online' aspect of our live debate, and I believe that went very well. My thanks to everyone who contributed to those discussions. Just to confirm, many of you sent in some more questions for Daryn (and his team at GWR▸ ) and all of them are valid - we simply didn't have time to include everything on the 'live' agenda! I am now compiling a further 'agenda / list of questions' of all of those other issues, which I will send to GWR for them to answer. I am sure they will do so - but as several of those questions are sometimes quite line-specific, they may need to gather information internally before they can give a proper answer. They will all be posted here, as soon as I can do so.  CfN. |
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All across the Great Western territory / Active travel: Cyclists and walkers, including how the railways deal with them / Re: Taking cycle on the train - boarding at intermediate stations
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on: October 03, 2024, 20:15:07
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Erm ... no.  It wasn't actually a surf board: it was a very large folding table, which we used for a Coffee Shop forum display event at Reading station, on the transfer deck. For valid logistical reasons at the time, I took it home with me to Nailsea afterwards - but then, with the onset of 'lockdown', I wasn't able to return it to its rightful home in Melksham immediately. Subsequently, I did take it by train from Nailsea to Melksham, agreeing with grahame that it would be a good experiment on the feasibility of travelling by rail with a surf board. Not on a branch line in north Cornwall, obviously: that would have been silly!  As it was, I had no problems at all. I merely propped it up in the vacant cycle racks, on both trains on my journey, and sat down in the carriage to relax: there's no way anyone is going to 'run off' with that - it's bluddy heavy! I said 'hello' to it again a couple of months ago, on another visit to Melksham.  |
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All across the Great Western territory / Meet the Manager / 6. Catering
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on: October 03, 2024, 15:20:01
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6. Catering
Are there any concrete plans to improve the woeful trolley service.
This issue has been raised in many previous meet the manager sessions but no improvements have resulted.
If the trolley appears at all, it is generally static, thereby removing the alleged advantage that it will pass ones seat.
If the train is formed of two 5 car units, then if the trolley appears at all it will be in the other unit.
On a full length train, the trolley gives up before passing through the whole train.
And what happened to the promised greatly improved trolleys with provision for keeping hot food hot and cold drinks cold ?
Please see previous "meet the manager" discussions for details of the promises previously made.
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All across the Great Western territory / Meet the Manager / 5. Ticketing and connections
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on: October 03, 2024, 15:10:01
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5. Ticketing and connections
We hear a lot about fare simplification and about better reliability from the new government. Few of us doubt that a more reliable service and one on which prices are better understood would be a good thing. We also hear of fiscal conservatism - plans to reduce the cost of the railways.
In recent years, through trains from Bristol, Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge to London (Waterloo) and to Brighton have been withdrawn by SWR» » and GWR▸ . Groupsave has been moved to an 09:30 start and had the "children go for £1" element withdrawn. Railcard discounts are being trimmed back this month. A Freedom of Information response following the withdrawal of through trains from London to our county town in Wiltshire was heavily redacted, with other services also under consideration for culling blacked out as being "commercial in confidence". With "nationalisation" looming the redactions should no longer apply, and indeed joined up benefits could accrue.
I applaud the improvements in services in recent years to Okehampton and the planned improvements to Newquay in frequency and in running the trains from there beyond the isolated junction at Par. What other plans are being made? As an example, the London Waterloo to Salisbury "stopper" is operated by class 158 and 159 units by SWR. The Bristol to Salisbury "stopper" is also operated much of the time by class 158 units. Much used and much loved facilities, with significant potential in the new era, could be provided.
I also commend the railcard and groupsave principles.
a) Can you tell us of any other services that are under consideration for culling from the redacted report, or any service level reductions as we see no commitment to retained service levels
b) Can you tell us of plans to join / connect services across ex-franchise boundaries bearing in mind a 40% loss of passengers if they have to change trains
c) Can you tell us if there are other fare "simplifications" in the pipeline which will result in backdoor rises in the cost of travel for the average passenger?
d) Are there any other simplifications which will truly result in an easier and more consistent product - for example the "Network" railcard to universally apply across the whole network, or Groupsave to apply universally on all operators to encourage journeys to Barry Island or Birmingham?
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