It sounds good, but these new trains are as much a sign of the problem than the solution. Too many miles of heavily used railway still do not have electricity overhead, resulting in trains that, whichever source of motive power is in use, have to lug two others around at the same time.

Tenuously linked in some cases. Marvin has had little to do with this project beyond cancelling the Arena that was going to be next door. This could be his one last shot at getting a photo dressed in orange before he departs to - who knows where? Barra Mac Ruairi, who I think is the man on the left in the main picture, worked for BCC^» (Bristol City Council - about) on the Arena project until Marvin, who had developed ties with YTL, cancelled it. He then went to work for YTL on their competing bid for an Arena at YTL's site at the old Filton Airfield. That might now be a dead duck for all we know, but Barra is not one to let the grass grow under his feet when there are new networks to get into.

"Network Rail bosses forecast that by 2030, some 2.5m people will be using the eastern entrance alone each year." - but they don't say how many will use it accompanied.

Murky buckets!

A little over 4 years ago, I had the pleasure of riding on this rather handsome tram in Kagoshima, southern Japan.



This is public transport rather than tourist, with my wife and I being the only foreigners on board. We had been briefed on how to use it. Boarding is at the rear, disembarkation via the front door. At each stop, the driver stands and turns to face the passenger cabin to his rear, with a ticket machine in front of him at the hatchway. He collects fares (or inspects a pass in our case), issues a ticket, bows and says "ありがとうございました", or "Arigatōgozaimashita", the Japanese form of "Thank you" used when an action is complete. I had learned that, but didn't know the correct response. When my turn came, I bowed in response and said "Cheers, Drive!", which was thankfully acceptable.

It was spotless, probably cleaned by the driver himself if needed.

I just looked at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for something else, and notice that all traffic into BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) seems to have stopped. Journey Check says that the emergency services are dealing with an incident. The 2120 to SVB (2K66) is still at the platform at 2137. 2K59 from SVB is now moving towards the station after a 24 minute wait at LWH.

The powers held by the police, be it BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) or another constabulary, are sufficient to deal with people misusing a private space open to the public. That said, they work fine in a railway station with a dozen people, but are a lot harder to put into practice with a thousand. Any response to a sit-in or such protest will always have to be looked at with the principle of not making matters worse before weighing in. The days when an announcement by an official wearing an appropriate hat would be enough to get everybody to go home are long behind us. That doesn't mean we should let anyone who fancies disrupting the travel plans of normal people to just carry on with it, but I would rather be inconvenienced by a sit-in than by a full scale punch up between the riot squad and hundreds of angry people.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have now emailed to say that my claim has been allowed in full. This means I travelled to Lincolnshire and back for free, if not on time. I wish I had gone first class now.

I await the outcome of my first ever claim from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) with some trepidation. LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) have already apologised for the cancellation of my train on the outward bound leg of my journey and started the process for a full refund. GWR has acknowledged my claim for the return.

Someone would have wanted to check local results against lists of marginal constituencies.

I have one of those gas-fired weed burners. It's rubbish at weeding, but great for lighting fires, and would probably be safe indoors if use under a chimney.

After my own volte face exactly a week ago, I knew the government would follow suit quickly. I hereby claim all credit.

This could be a case of "careful what you wish for" though. In theory, as the staff were due to be redeployed in other roles. If those other roles still have to be filled,  with the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) hoping to use ticket office staff, this could be a cost-cutting exercise that costs more.

I wonder how popular ticket offices would be with a £1 transaction fee.

That sounds reasonable.


I saw Nigel Farage, and switched off. I read the story in the Sunday Times, and it is worrying. Whether it is fraud, a desperate civil engineering sector trying to keep heads above water, or woeful government incompetence, I don't know. BUT Government has been overseeing this project for thirteen years, and has fussed and meddled throughout to please the occasional backbencher, and the same government has had monthly updates on expenditure since before work began. Surely at least some of the six secretaries of state and 18 under-secretaries who have had control of HS2should have read them?

Even if you criticise the thread for its overt political slant (he was a Labour minister after all) what he says makes an awful lot of sense. A lot more than cancelling half of the project to try to win a few votes for a sinking government, announcing a lot of new projects that were already under way, and threatening to sell the route to the highest donor bidder.

My suggestion? First, don't sell the land. Then complete the first stage of the project, ushering in Lord Adonis as minister for it after the next election. He's right - the sight of trains hurtling from (hopefully) Euston to Birmingham at 250 mph then having to trundle behind the delayed 1602 Liverpool to Manchester calling at all stops will spark outrage sufficient to overcome objection. Especially when they see the extra local services and goods travelling by train that used to go by road or air.

I hereby change my mind on the matter completely, and pay tribute to the stalwarts manning the ticket office at Tiverton Parkway. I rocked up to the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) at said station to collect my tickets including for the first part of the journey on the train that had just left Exeter St Davids. I put my card in the slot, typed in the reference, and got a message along the lines of "Sorry, do I know you?". Second attempt including a careful check of each individual character of my booking reference resulted in a complete shutdown.  Thankfully, the lady at the counter planning a multi-stop tour of all UK^▸ (United Kingdom) stations without a letter T in the name recognised my state of desperation, and stood aside for a moment. The chap had my tickets done within the minute, including the one only valid on that train (£21 to Grantham isn't bad). As I left to join the train now pulling in, the lady resumed her quest. "Next, I thought Poulton-le-Fylde. Wait, that has a T, I'll start again..."

They have their cross to bear, for sure, but I'm backing them now, even if I will still try the ATM^‡(resolve) first.

The worst case scenario with the bargain basement fire sale is that certain people with friends currently in high places buy CPO'd land at commercial cost to make a big killing when it is CPO'd again after a proper analysis finds it was stupid to scrap the northern bit of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)).