5146
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All across the Great Western territory / Smoke and Mirrors / Re: Littering the Railways - You cannot win! (rant)
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on: July 24, 2013, 22:38:48
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I'm sorry, but to say there are no bins at Bristol TM‡ because of security is nonsense. There are bins provided at London Paddington, these are of the type where a clear plastic bag is held by a metal loop fixed to a wall. There are also the cleaners with their litter trolleys. So how can Bristol TM be more of a security risk than a London terminal?!
IIRC▸ , there were some big old cast iron bins that would have made a fantastic amount of shrapnel. Having taken them away for that reason, they have not been reinstated for a different reason.
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5147
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All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture Overseas / Terrible accident at Santiago de Compostela, northern Spain - 24 July 2013
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on: July 24, 2013, 22:08:48
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The BBC» News is reporting a serious rail accident in Galicia, Northern Spain. Four carriages have derailed, and 35 are confirmed to have died at this stage. Spanish train in deadly derailment A train has derailed in north-western Spain, with at least 10 people reported killed. Spanish railway company Renfe confirmed the train had come off the tracks near the city of Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region. A Renfe spokesman told AFP news agency several people had been killed and several more injured. Spanish news agency Efe quoted police and hospital sources as saying at least 50 people were injured. Reports said all 13 carriages had left the tracks, and four carriages had overturned completely. Images showed dozens of emergency workers crowded around ruined carriages. Passengers were shown lying on the ground being treated. Renfe said the train carried more than 200 passengers, and was on the express route between Madrid and Ferrol on the Galician coast.
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5148
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Changes to cycle policy - 3/4 Aug 13
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on: July 24, 2013, 22:00:42
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Blimey! An ironing board! Mrs FT, N! rang me a couple years back, asked me to pick one up from Sainsbury on my way home. Half-price, and we needed a new one. The lady on the check-out was impressed, thinking I was some sort of new man, until I asked if she knew what it was for. I don't think I'd risk taking one on public transport.
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5151
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Turbo refresh started.
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on: July 24, 2013, 20:48:44
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Whist I accept that most platforms at Paddington are gateline protected at no point during my week of travel was my ticket checked once.
Mrs FT, N! has beaten a path to and from Swindon regularly, and reports likewise. Not only that, but the gateline is often open when she gets back to Temple Meads.
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5152
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Bristol connections: Metro, Bus Rapid Transit, PTE, ITA and local councils - discussion
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on: July 24, 2013, 20:44:22
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Jazz & Blues with Lizzie Deane
Quoi? Should construction commence, they can be refitted if the existing track is strong enough for deliveries / extractions by rail. The favourite proposal suggests that they would then disappear again, with the goods and passengers lines running side by side, but separate from each other.
Coo. How far? Didn't think there was room for double track all the way... Probably no further than Pill Viaduct initially. But at least that would mean that a train stopping there to head for Portishead would not stop a goods train struggling up the hill from Portbury. Looking at the photos in the GRIP3 report, there probably is room over the viaduct for twin track, but I can't see it happening.
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5153
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Bristol connections: Metro, Bus Rapid Transit, PTE, ITA and local councils - discussion
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on: July 24, 2013, 18:32:27
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In other observations:
1. Would that be a LEVEL CROSSING in the docks area? Tsk. It is a private siding. In any case, I think it would have got under the door before it closed on new level crossings. 2. Why on earth did they fit a set of points where the new line diverges from the old?
This could be seen as an optimistic statement that the passenger railway would not be far behind the goods traffic. Or it may have been intended to persuade the people of Pill, soon to have heavy trains trundling past the front door, that any disturbance would be worth it soon. Maybe 17 years. The switches were removed at some point, and lie in the undergrowth to the right of this picture: Should construction commence, they can be refitted if the existing track is strong enough for deliveries / extractions by rail. The favourite proposal suggests that they would then disappear again, with the goods and passengers lines running side by side, but separate from each other. In other Bristol local transport news, Transport for Greater Bristol have written to DafT with a FOI▸ request for the long-overdue result of the Planning Inquiry, according to Bristol Post. They are also calling for the PI to be reopened to examine the changes to the route, and to consider TfGB's own recommendation for Bust Rabid Transit to run along Hotwells Road - entirely reasonable in my book. If agreed, it will hold up construction for even more months. MetroBus scheme to be delayed if pressure group's request is granted
By The Bristol Post
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
By Ian Onions
A PRESSURE group has called for a public inquiry to be reopened over the MetroBus which is planned to run from the Long Ashton park-and-ride site to Temple Meads.
If the inquiry is reopened, the introduction of the ^49 million scheme will be delayed for several months.
Mayor George Ferguson, with the support of city councillors, has decided that the route should be changed so that it no longer runs in front of the M shed museum and over Prince Street Bridge.
Instead, it will run along Cumberland Road, over Redcliffe Hill and rejoin the original route in Redcliffe Way. Jazz & Blues with Lizzie Deane
A public inquiry was held last year into the scheme ^ but nearly 12 months later, the outcome has not been published.
Transport for Greater Bristol's Ian Crawford said that the pressure group has now written to ministers asking for the result of the public inquiry to be announced.
He said: "We have now made a Freedom of Information request to obtain the inspector's report which was available to the secretaries of state in January ^ five months after the public inquiry.
"In view of the changed route which was not investigated at the inquiry, we have asked whether it (the inquiry) will be reopened to look at what has been put forward almost a year after the inquiry closed."
TfGB believes that the best route for the MetroBus would be along Hotwell Road because there is higher passenger demand than on Cumberland Road.
But Mr Ferguson dismissed the Hotwell Road option at a cabinet meeting last month.
This followed transport officials telling Mr Ferguson in a report that the business case did not stack up for this alternative route.
Mr Crawford said the MetroBus being guided along a specially-built concrete trough on some sections was "unnecessary expensive engineering".
He said he would prefer to see the money spent on improving bus frequency and reducing fares through the introduction of a "smart ticket".
All the councils in the former Avon area will have to agree to the amended route before it can be approved by the Department for Transport ^ but this is likely to be a formality.
South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset councils are keen to press ahead with the MetroBus to help ease traffic congestion in the Bristol area. The Department for Transport said it was not sure whether the changed route would need an amendment to the legal powers required for the scheme. But the department has now been told this amendment is not needed.
A spokesman for the DfT» said there are two elements which are necessary before work can start ^ funding and an order under the Transport and Works Act.
The spokesman said: "On funding, the department is waiting for formal confirmation that the changes to the scheme proposed following the mayor of Bristol's review of the proposed route have been approved by the West of England councils. These would then need to be approved by ministers.
"On the TWA, we have been progressing the necessary order as far as possible considering the report of the public enquiry. The final TWA decision will also need ministerial approval.
"We will publish the report with the letter that will outline the decision on the TWA."
The Ashton Vale route is just one in the MetroBus network, which will cost a total of ^196 million.
The other routes run from the northern fringe of the city to Hengrove and from the Long Ashton park-and-ride site to Hengrove (South Bristol Link).
The DfT will be paying most of the cost, ^113 million, with councils in the former Avon area chipping in the rest.
Bristol's share will be ^42 million, phased over several years.
The Ashton Vale route would be the first to be built, with construction work starting next year and transport running by 2016.
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5154
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Changes to cycle policy - 3/4 Aug 13
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on: July 24, 2013, 15:18:54
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Anyway, I'm thinking of buying a bike, so I may get to see the other side of the coin. It was a little intemperate, I grant, but I have seen some truly nasty behaviour by someone who truly deserves the sobriquet. It is to folk of that ilk, not cyclists generally, that my ire is directed.
That aside, you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Separating the cyclist from the cycle on an urban route like SVB will simply slow everything down, as people reclaim their bike. Vertical racks seem to work in some settings, but that of course means fewer seats for the pedestrian part of the client^le. Cyclists are made welcome at stations and on trains, says FGW▸ , but the cycling policy leaflet is clear that there is a maximum (on 150, 153, 158) of 2 cycles - it doesn't say if it's per train or per carriage. It would be absurd to turn away the third cyclist on a lightly loaded train, but worse to let too many bikes on one of packed morning commuter trains. So how is this policy implemented in practice? Not sure it is, really.
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5156
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Changes to cycle policy - 3/4 Aug 13
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on: July 23, 2013, 22:52:56
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Cycles can be a real nuisance on Severn Beach trains. Pre-2008, there weren't enough passengers for it to be a problem, and some of the passengers took a bike as insurance against delay or cancellation. The piles of sharp metal, with accompanying lycra-clad fascists usually crowded around the doors is a phenomenon that owes much to the improved service over the past few years. Not sure whether "something must be done" or whether the root of the problem lies in the rolling stock.
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5157
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Drinking fountains
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on: July 23, 2013, 22:34:13
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I once took a cross channel ferry that took some 36 hours ... a storm blew up, and some **** had filled the bow thruster tanks with water not diesel, so we had to ride up and down the channel in the storm waiting for it to subside enough for us to get into port. I could digress and tell you what it was like on board!
We took with us, and purchased, enough liquid for our use on the crossing. And those of us who could keep food and drink down were pretty well plied during the crossing extension. But I'll contend that if the ferry operator had failed to provide drinks, or had charged so much that people couldn't afford them, and someone had suffered damage as a result, a case against them would have been possible and very likely winnable!
Spike Milligan had this simple solution to sea sickness: "Stand under a tree".
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