Hi Lee,

We are trying to arrange our visit to family in August and have hit a problem with the cost of train journeys!


We are trying to get from Christchurch to Wrexham on 31 Aug and then Wrexham to Norwich on Sunday 4th September. Could you help us to find the most economic journey with the least hassle for 2 oldies to cope with please?

Thank you, Lee ...

You are posting on the end of the Tuesday Club thread ... and following up with a forecast which, sadly, suggests we're not going to be out and about in 2022 like we were in 2019; rather it will have shades of 2020 and 2021.

But we are moving on - from the shock of the first wave of the Tsunami of covid some 20 months ago, and a into much more of a working and living with it scenario, and building a new future whether or not it is eradicated.  The Tuesday Club - with its social safety net - helped some of us stay in touch, get used to the new normal; we're still very much around and a social grouping, with an informal net between us all to help friends in need - or even in want, or in benefit from.

Moving on ... with wanting to look forward ... I started writing up a series of themes as to what I would like to see public transport "doing" or being into the future ... playing about on Christmas Day with, perhaps, an alphabet of themes, one per week shall we say, for the first six months of next year.   I know that will bring us back to Christmas just before high summer, but that will give us time to have a good break, promotion of what's appropriate through the high season for leisure and ready for an autumn of what it shall bring.

Now - take a look through these themes; some of them are pretty contrived and improvements would be welcome!

affordable
busy
climate friendly
diverse
efficient
frequent
green
helpful
integrated
joyful
knowledgable
loveable
modern
network
open
passenger friendly
quiet
reliable
safe
total journey aware
understandable
view offering
washed
xmas running

I'm afraid that I genuinely can't tell you my exact source, just as I am sure that ChrisB - who is spot-on regarding the transport operator lockdown preparations going on behind the scenes - won't be revealing his exact sources either.

I will reveal exactly what it was my source told me though. They said that the optimal date based on the likely number of cases that lockdown should be implemented to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed is 18 December, but unless the figures are such that their hand is forced, the government will hold off until the New Year to "give the people their Christmas". It is felt that an Omicron-specific vaccine will be required to effectively combat the outbreak, and thus it is likely to take a number of months in total for first such a vaccine to be made available, and then for it to be rolled out sufficiently among the general population.

As I said, I hope I am wrong, and I was indeed out regarding the timing of the introduction of Covid passports in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), so nothing is set in stone.

Tough Covid restrictions could be needed until spring, scientists warn

New Covid restrictions, much like those previously enforced during the pandemic, could be in place until late March.

The government’s scientific advisors have modelled what effect different levels of restrictions would have in reducing the pressure on the NHS and the number of coronavirus deaths.

The modelling, by experts from Warwick University, considered a package of measures including a ban on indoor socialising between different households and a return to the rule of six outdoors, in line with the Step 2 restrictions in place in April in England.

A consensus paper published on Christmas Eve by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (Spi-M-O) said ‘rapidly enacted Step 2 measures reduce the peak of hospital pressure to about half its level under Plan B only’.

The research looked at introducing Step 2 restrictions on either December 28 or New Year’s Day and keeping them in place until January 15, 28 or March 28.

It also included a model examining what impact ‘non-mandated behaviour change’ would have if it reduced mixing by half the amount that Step 2 would achieve.

The Spi-M-O summary of the Warwick modelling said: ‘A reduction in mixing equivalent to half that of Step 2 results in only a very small reduction in severe outcomes compared to Plan B alone.

‘Step 2 has a much larger effect, reducing the number of deaths up to 31st May by 39% (24-54%) if kept in place from December 28 until March 28, and 18% (12-27%) if kept in place until January 15.’

Be careful what you wish for. SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) have completely removed some TER services, notably five around Perpignan. When pressed, they said this was due not just to staff self-isolating but that the number of passengers had fallen too. Presumably they meant "below the level that made the service worth running at all". So far, buses are replacing them, though with passengers having less space per each. Of course that depends on the bus drivers being there ...

I got to know - a little - Andrew when he was MD of Great Western Railway. That was long before he took on the wider role of Great British Railways. And I have a huge respect for him.  He has a mountain of issues to confront, which it would take me until Christmas to list, and I do not envy him that mountain.

In the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), we have a number of strong community, local, regional expertise and that community, outside of the conventional rail industry, Horseferry Road and political sphere could bring that expertise to help with perhaps radical progress if only it were allowed.  You jest, Lee, about Andrew Haines calling  and elsewhere I comment about asking Mark A to take on a role.  You yourself have more than a little to offer (and indeed you are doing so on the buses) and I could find some really excellent others - no shortage of candidates, many of whom are likely to be reading this (and I hope will know I am hinting at them!)

But ... it does require some brave decisions, and trust and a free reign to get on and do the darned job from those who have perhaps over-managed to the extent they have stifled improvement.  There are some really excellent people, but some work in really constraining systems.

We aren't the only ones - here are other issues this morning:


We do seem, though, to have consistency one of the worst records and, time and time and time again, huge gaps between services.


Makes me weep.  Don't know what to do.

26. The geographic and financial size of Passenger Service Contracts will reflect local markets and needs.

It will be easier to design the geographic and financial size of contracts to reflect local markets and needs, and to reduce barriers to entry for new and innovative bidders where this is value for money. These could include, for example, operators with innovative ideas for improving connectivity with other transport services, community rail partnerships for individual lines, and operators with proposals for reducing train fleet costs or increasing leisure use of under-used scenic routes. Integration could also enable multiple, smaller operators to co-exist efficiently in a way that has not previously been possible.

From Open Democracy


With reference to train services which cross international / regulatory boundaries. Adina Vălean, Neil Kinnock, Mark Smith, Chris Irwin, Pedro Nuno Santos, Benedikt Weibel and Christian Wolmar comment on the issue.  The system ".... either eats into the company profits, leads to higher fares for customers, or puts operators off running some routes in the first place".

I find myself concerned as to whether the international problems running cross border trains are being mirrored in cross LTA^▸ (Local Transport Authority) (Local Transport Authority) boundary bus services in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) - here's looking to a spat between Wiltshire and Bath's highways departments over where the heavy lorries go and how that's setting a poor environment for co-operation over bus routes that cross the border.

In an unexpected twist, the EU^» (European Union - about) may well want to look at what’s happening in the UK. The country that wholeheartedly embraced privatisation recently announced the creation of a new entity – GB^▸ (Great Britain) Railways – that will bring infrastructure and operations back under one company. Christopher Irwin sees a lesson here for the rest of Europe: when things go wrong, “it’s time to move on to another formula”

I shall keep the bubbly on ice for now, although now that Network rail are involved, it does look more likely than not that it will happen.

What really keeps Central Office inhabitants up at night though is the recent trend in By-Elections for either Labour or the Liberal Democrats to basically not turn up in campaigning terms if the other party has a better chance. This mirrors the undeclared tactic deployed by Tony Blair and Paddy Ashdown in the run-up to and during the 1997 General Election, two men who were close enough in political terms to facilitate that kind of understanding. Today, Keir Starmer and Ed Davey are similarly close enough in political terms to facilitate that kind of understanding, in a way that would never have been possible with, say, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson. The modern day understanding between the two parties is directly responsible for the Lib Dem Chesham and Amersham By-Election win, for Labour holding Batley and Spen in that By-Election, and for the Labour vote jumping by 7.4% while the Lib Dem similarly plummeted by 5.3% in the Old Bexley & Sidcup By-Election. It therefore doesn't take a genius to work out what could be made possible if similar tactics are deployed in the upcoming North Shropshire By-Election.

The Conservatives know that it only takes a combination of negative electoral factors - such as sleaze and changing attitudes towards Brexit for example - to shave off a few percentage points from their vote, along with the above understanding between Labour and the Lib Dems, to bring what currently look on paper to be very safe Conservative seats back into the play as the marginals they often used to be again. Indeed, their ultimate fear is that Geoffrey Cox will either be forced out or call it a day as Torridge and West Devon MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), ushering in a Lib Dem By-Election victory that would be seen as a "turning point" moment which opens the door for them to ultimately regain their former seats across the South West. Such an outcome would be a political catastrophe for the Conservatives - For example, people often forget that it was less than a decade ago that 4 out of the 5 Somerset constituencies were Lib-Dem held.

Disclaimer: Nether Boris Johnson or any member of Downing street staff are involved in running this quiz.

Having said that, I see the National Rail app seems to have been removed from the Google Play store.