There has been a lot of public money spent on this, from being included in the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) resignalling so the branch wasn't severed, to the purchase of the DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) etc. The trial services seem to have been organised around people coming to travel on the heritage railway, being of little practical use to locals without even considering the premium fares being charged.

Questionable really why it was attempted as not clear what it was really trying to achieve.

One thing that the Standard report doesn't include maybe because it is a bit longer term is the replacement of the old overhead wiring into Paddington that was done on the cheap 30 years ago for the Heathrow Express.

There are a number of people I am aware of that from Didcot regularly use the semi-fast service into London splitting tickets at Maidenhead as a cheaper alternative than the fast service, especially in the peak. They may not be any significant factor in the overall thinking but naturally they get the short straw every day during disruption as these trains are top of the pile for being sacrificed.

And on the 12 hour clock five past seven traditionally would be 7.5 rather than 7.05 but I can't remember the last time I saw that.

That reminds me of the story that the Class 442 trains were supposedly built with First Class compartments rather than by then the usual an open saloon because a major user of them were Navy & other MoD personnel from Portland plus staff of the Atomic Energy Establishment at Winfrith. A nice story even if not true!

Early government discussion called this scheme "demand based pricing" which at least was a more honest description than "simpler". There may only be three fare names but there are dozens of actual fare levels from the cheapest to the most expensive across these. With the elimination of the off peak fare, the cap on Advances & 70 min "flex" throughout the day is now the Anytime fare. Expect this to come into play at busy times.

There are now some more services operating just to stations south of the landslip, Marylebone to/from High Wycombe and all stops to/from West Ruislip.

The UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Met Office's high resolution model (UKV) has definitely performed quite poorly this week for accuracy in predicting the rain on both Tuesday and Thursday for both intensity and positioning. It has come into line with other models such as the French Arpege late on but this means it wasn't represented too well early in public forecasts (ie just being described along the lines of 'something to look out for').

Now GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would be having more detailed probabilistic info than the public but I do wonder if there has been a fatigue setting in relating to potential weather events for proactive cancellations, warnings etc.

On the flooding front if anyone wants to use Didcot Parkway, consider bringing your wellies. The drainage for the underpass has been overwhelmed again with platforms 4 & 5 presently out of use.

This has been put out on social media.

There is another historical effect with the Didcot to Reading & Oxford fares in that there was a one off reduction in the early 2000s when these were set by Thames Trains which has been baked in subsequently for the next 20 years. Otherwise they would probably be pushing towards £10.

It isn't strictly comparable being a somewhat shorter journey but Swindon to Chippenham is more in line being  £11.60 anytime, £8.80 off peak.

Riddle me this. Didcot to Oxford, Reading, & Swindon are pretty similar in journey time around 15 minutes, and in the same rolling stock, at least for many services. The price though is wildly different:

Anytime day return
OXF^» (Oxford - next trains): £8.60
RDG^‡(resolve): £12.50
SWI^» (Swindon - next trains): £59.40 (the 7 day season fare is only (!) £97.40)

Off peak day return
OXF: £7.90
RDG: £7.80
SWI: £15.70

Now there are a few accidents of history that have combined to produce this state of affairs, but it has no underlying logic.

To be legally hailed in the street outside of London pedicabs drivers at present to have a taxi driver's Hackney Carriage licence - which effectively stops them from being anything other than a pre-booked service. This makes them no different from any other private hire vehicle.

Long Weekender tickets were advertised as being a trial when they were introduced but that was over a year ago. Nothing said yet about when the trail is supposed to end, let alone whether it is considered a success, and then whether they actually will be extended to other destinations.

The Seoul Metro despite its modernity, has lines at headways that are typically only in the low twenties. They need to learn from the Victoria Line.

The Standard report has been updated to an "increase by a one-off levy of about three per cent next March, in addition to the annual fares rise".

When Rutland was absorbed by Leicestershire, there were 2 villages called Belton in the enlarged county. After a few years of them getting confused, the relevant one changed its name to Belton-in-Rutland. With the re-separation it is now Belton-in-Rutland, Rutland.