WOP, wouldn't some of our European neighbours take offence at that term?

AS THE GHOST TRAINS RUMBLE ON, IT’S TIME TO BRING THE RAILWAYS BACK TO LIFE

The ‘modal shift’ from rail to road has been an outstanding success for its proponents – and a disaster for those of us who believe that rail must be at the heart of travel

[snip]

The Campaign Against Rail Travel (or Cart, as I shall call it) begins even as you contemplate a journey. Before you can begin booking an online journey, Greater Anglia’s website insists that you “read these statements in relation to your planned journey and tick to confirm”.

You must affirm that you have considered “all other means of transport before using public transport,” and assert: “My travel is necessary and I need to use the train”.

Walk-up passengers face equally strident opposition.

“Can you travel another way,” barks a massive billboard at what is normally Europe’s busiest rail station, London Waterloo. It includes a picture of a car, to remind travellers there is a better way to go.

The “modal shift” from rail to road has been an outstanding success for its proponents – and a disaster for those of us who believe that rail must be at the heart of travel as something like normal life resumes.

Months of urging passengers to stay away from trains has created the impression that the rail network is an option of last resort, to be considered only in extremis by the 12 million of us with no access to a car.

Nicky Gardner, co-author of Europe by Rail, says: “This is surely the wrong message.  ... [continues]

A £705m funding package to boost infrastructure and recruit more staff on Britain's border has been announced as the UK prepares to leave the EU customs union at the end of the year.

Plans include new border control posts and 500 extra Border Force staff.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the move would help the UK "seize the opportunities" post-Brexit.

I've just realised, 2 posts above, that I completely missed the point of this thread, and as I got 4 likes so did at least 4 others.  Must remember to read previous posts in a thread more carefully in future, and my apologies to PhilWakely.

A very good point. I worked out that percentage on my way to deriving the more meaningful figure based on actual numbers, but it would probably have strengthened my argument had I not mentioned it!

This funding is split into 3 categories to ensure we can support different projects at different phases of development. The 3 categories are:
* the Ideas Fund, to restore rail services (other than rail station creation or restoration)
* accelerating existing proposals, to increase development of a previously submitted rail proposals
* proposals for new or restored rail stations

The list of bids to the second round of the ‘Ideas Fund’ are:

the North West are:
the South Fylde Line Passing Loop
Kenyon Junction Station
reopening Golborne Railway Station
reinstatement of Bolton-Radcliffe / Bolton-Bury
reinstating Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station
reopening of Midge Hall Station
re-doubling of the Mid Cheshire Line between Stockport and Altrincham and associated station reopening’s
the Stockport to Ashton Line
the Glazebrook Junction to Skelton Junction
the East Didsbury to Stockport
the North East are:
Consett – Newcastle Connection
Ferryhill Restoration

the East are:
reopening of the Wymondham-Dereham line
King’s Lynn to Hunstanton Railway

Yorkshire and Humber, are:
the reinstatement of the Beverley to York rail line
the restoration of a daily train service on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
the Upper Wensleydale Railway
restoring Passenger Rail to the Sheaf Valley
restoring a South Humber Link
the South Yorkshire Joint Railway
a new station at Waverley

the Midlands are:
reopening the Stratford upon Avon to Honeybourne-Worcester/Oxford (SWO) Railway Line
increasing stopping services at Radcliffe-on-Trent and Bottesford stations on the Poacher line between Grantham and Nottingham
increasing services to Nottingham and Leicester, via Syston and Loughborough from Melton Mowbray
reconnecting Ashfield Communities through the Maid Marian Line

South West are:
the Shepton Mallet (Mendip Vale)
the Radstock railway reinstatement
St Anne’s Park station
Primrose Line
transforming the Newquay Line
Mid-Cornwall Metro
the restoring of secondary services on the Great Western Main line
Goodrington and Churston Stations
a new station for Langport and Somerton area
Charfield Station
reinstatement of Bodmin to Wadebridge railway and associated works
increasing service provision Bodmin General – Bodmin Parkway
Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Junction Railway
Bristol West Capacity Enhancement
Light railway extension to the Barnstaple Branch (Chivenor Braunton) “TawLink”
the Cirencester Community Rail Project
Project Wareham – Complete the link
improvement of railway services at Pilning station, as well as reinstating the footbridge to platform 2

the South East are:
The Arundel Chord
the re-opening of Camberwell Station, London SE5
the unlocking of capacity and services through Bramley (Hants)
the Chinnor Railway Aston Rowant extension
the Carshalton Beeches step-free access

Wales are:
the Magor and Undy Walkway Station
restoring services on the Anglesey Central Railway between Gaerwen and Amlych

Wiltshire Council has made a submission (sponsored by Michelle Donelan MP) to the 2nd tranche of the Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund. An expression of interest on restoring secondary train services to the Great Western Main Line was submitted on 22 May and the full submission (for appropriate initial study work to be undertaken) was sent on 19 June 2020.

As well as improving connectivity between Bristol to Oxford (and potentially further east) this would help realise new stations at Corsham and Royal Wootton Bassett / Swindon West. It would also potentially help realise new stations at Swindon East, Grove (Oxfordshire), Saltford and St Anne’s Park (West of England).

It is anticipated that the DfT will make an announcement on the submission in 6 – 8 weeks.

We will keep this page updated with any progress.

No immediate list, but question has been asked.

The 18 South West bids

Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Junction Railway
Bristol West Capacity Enhancement
Charfield Station
Cirencester Community Rail Project
Goodrington and Churston Stations
Improvements at Pilning station and reinstating the footbridge to platform 2
Increased service provision Bodmin General – Bodmin Parkway
Light railway extension to the Barnstaple Branch (Chivenor Braunton) “TawLink”
Mid Cornwall Metro
New Station for Langport and Somerton Area
Primrose Line
Project Wareham – Complete the link
Radstock railway reinstatement
Reinstatement of Bodmin – Wadebridge railway and associated works
Restoring secondary services on the Great Western Main line
Shepton Mallet (Mendip Vale)
St Anne's Park station
Transforming the Newquay Line

Of the 10 stations that didn't achieve their demand forecasts, the worst appears to be Newcraighall at 60% below par. Of the 13 that exceeded them, the best was Ebbw Vale Parkway at 450% over para

... taken as a whole the reopening schemes in the report did 33% better than forecast.  ...

Maybe that's a crude measure....

((5126661/5443769)*100)-100 = 6.2%

Aylesbury Vale Parkway is an interesting one as it opened early in June 2009 rather than planned in 2010.  The report does gives some detail, but as it was being built to provide a station for several large house build projects nearby and it opened before most of those had been built.  The recession led to long delays on some phases of those estates, some of which have only recently been completed and usage has been strongly increasing since 2010.  That perhaps explains that one?

Ghostbusters
The campaigners - the people who've got bums on seats on some of our least used lines and at our least used ststions. Dronfield, Manea, Gainsborough Central, Redditch and Stonehaven.  With a look forward to cases underway - Bromsgrove, Breich and Brigg.

Village train travellers are facing major disruption after a rail operator announced it was cutting the service until early September.

The move by CrossCountry Trains was initially flagged up by a concerned Manea resident who reported a drop in the number of trains stopping at the village station.

Posting on the village Facebook page he said trains had failed to stop at their usual times on Wednesday (.

The UK's biggest bus company and rail operator has urged the Government to stop deterring people from using public transport to get them back into shops, pubs, restaurants and offices.

FirstGroup chief executive Matthew Gregory said it is time to 'move away' from appealing to passengers not to use trains and buses for non-essential journeys.

With people required to wear face coverings on public transport, he called on the Government to 'change the message to the fact that public transportation is safe'.

Rishi Sunak's attempts to kick start the UK's cobweb-covered economy could be derailed by inconsistent messaging as the Department for Transport (DfT) continues to insist that people keep away from public transport.

Government guidelines still state those that can work from home should continue to do so, even as cafes and retail stores warn it is strangling their business and lay-off thousands due to the absence of white-collar employees.

Train and bus journeys are languishing at 49 per cent below pre-lockdown levels, data from Apple suggests, while driving is just seven per cent lower.

Raising the possibility of people being encouraged back onto buses and trains, a DfT spokeman today told MailOnline their advice on public transport is under 'continual review'.

The word Capacity had made me wonder if it didn't actually refer to a station at all but capacity for more frequent services on the Severn Beach line.

Transport bosses have urged the Government to stop encouraging people to avoid trains and buses.

Matthew Gregory, chief executive of transport giant FirstGroup, said it is time to "move away" from telling passengers not to use public transport for non-essential journeys.

Despite coronavirus lockdown restrictions easing in recent weeks, the Department for Transport continues to tell people to "avoid public transport if they can" amid the pandemic.

"Face coverings are now mandatory on public transport and I think with that we can change the message to the fact that public transportation is safe," Mr Gregory told the PA news agency.

"We’ve enhanced the cleaning, we’ve enhanced the disinfectant, we’ve dealt with social distancing properly to try and avoid crowding.

"We’ve made this case to Government to start moving away from that avoiding public transport (message) because we have to get the economy moving again, people want to travel again and move again."