4742
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Reading Station improvements
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on: June 02, 2014, 22:31:11
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Judging by the picture in the article she look so pleased to be going to Reading Jesting aside this is great news for the team that have worked on Reading Station to have HM the Queen open the station Will she be continuing to dress to a bedding theme? And I look forward to hearing the Duke of Edinburgh's views on work. All the orange jackets might just be a little unsettling, though... Also jesting aside, it is indeed great news for the team at every level from drawing board to shovel to have their work recognised thus. I think it is also recognition of rail travel's renewed pre-eminence, and of the value of such infrastructure projects to the national good.
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4745
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Sideshoots - associated subjects / The Lighter Side / Re: The wrong direction
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on: June 01, 2014, 19:22:05
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Gillingham in Dorset is pronounced with a G as is Good, whereas the Kent homograph has a G as in Gentle.
Poulton and Bolton, both in Lancashire, caused some confusion once, as I argued the fare I had been quoted for a journey from Blackpool North.
Someone well known (I forget whom, but the daughter of a famous whatever) hired a taxi with her equally well off and thick friends to get to a concert at Leeds Castle. They never got there, but did enjoy a pint of John Smiths.
And some say the Falkland Islands were discovered by accident, when the helmsman on the way to Australia incorrectly turned to starboard. His captain remonstrated: "I said port, Stanley!"
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4752
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All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture - related rail and other transport issues / Re: Govia win new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise
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on: May 24, 2014, 12:42:01
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Indeed, EE, and the forthcoming building works and related line closures are reflected in the franchise model. It is being let on a management contract. Additional revenues go back to the treasury, and Govia gets to keep a 3% profit margin. Go-Ahead, not long ago a small bus company, own 65% of Govia, the rest being owned by Keolis. This will raise Go-Ahead's profits by around ^20 million after tax per year, or up 33% against last year's. Given they are likely to have only two or three years of smooth running across the network, this doesn't seem outrageous.
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4754
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All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture - related rail and other transport issues / Re: New French trains too wide for 1300 platforms
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on: May 23, 2014, 16:39:05
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Some good points there stuving. Not checking properly arguably led to the loss of the first Arianne 5, through a mismatch of computer programmes developed for Arianne 4. And a certain well-known ship, built by a certain well-known engineer, was stuck in Bristol's harbour for more than a year after launch because it wouldn't fit through the locks. The locks were supposed to have been widened, but weren't. The ship was built wider than it should have been, and fitting the engines before it was towed out, giving it a deeper draught than was originally intended.
S^gol^ne Royal's principal concern in this fiasco will be S^gol^ne Royal.
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