This could prove calamitous for Bucks CC if HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) appeals and wins.

My wife rang to say there was a man harpist in the next carriage, making a lot of noise.  I think that's what she said.

You can't get the wood, you know.

Like a post I did in Another Place a few years ago, about the new bridge at Gypsy Patch Lane?

Luckily, the Wiltshire Metro will sort all this lot out.
https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2025/04/plans-discussed-for-a-metro-system-for-bath-and-wiltshire.html

There's always one rebel who follows the instructions...

Is this what they mean by "teams of crack divers"?

So she isn't the transport spokesperson, doesn't have a station in her constituency which will be affected either way, and has started announcing things that are already under way, something traditionally done by the government rather than the opposition. The news that trains will not be stopping at a station that hasn't been built yet is unlikely to have champagne corks popping amongst even her more fervent supporters, and will only be true for as long as the various bodies involved think that trains stopping at OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) is not a good idea.

I think we are still in the phase of this incident where everybody tries to blame everybody else. Next will come the small matter of deciding who pays for all the expense. Hopefully, there will time for proper "wargaming" of the systems before too long, something that would have strengthened the response had it happened before, but may have been omitted because there had been no previous problems. I'm sure there will be chance one night for a simulation to develop a process for a quick recovery should it happen again.

In a dire emergency, an aircraft can be landed on a runway without any of the electrical systems working, so long as the pilot can see it from a few miles away. Instrument landing systems and PAPI lights are always welcome, but even the most modern aircraft can be landed using the Mark 1 human eyeball. I had a lot of fun landing an A330 at Heathrow last week (in a pilot training simulator, not Flight Sim or a real aircraft) and it isn't hugely different in principle to a Piper Cherokee apart from height and speeds - which surprised me. It would be a problem if nobody knew you were coming though - the runway maintenance crews took immediate advantage of unexpected available time to go and sort a few things out.

Airport closures happen all the time, but seldom on this scale. The normal practice is to divert, either to another airport in the same country, or somewhere en route, and wait for a resumption. That poses its own problems, with crew hours, refuelling, possibly deplaning passengers and accommodating them, and in the case of A380s, limited airports with the right kit.

The fire seems to have started accidentally, with the 25,000 litres of cooling oil (I read cooking oil first time) being the fuel. A mistake by an engineer has been suggested ("Whoops! My bad...") but I think that is conjecture. The resilience aspect is certainly going to be the topic of a few urgent conversations, for sure. The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) report mentions back-ups, UPS, all that. I don't think Heathrow will want any chance of this happening again.

The layman could be forgiven for thinking that an hourly service between Newquay and Falmouth is just a little underwhelming, but work like this keeps the whole thing working for the next century or so, and those extra services could be transformative for the whole network.

Even that's a little simplistic. Yes, the USA laid 2000 miles of track in the 1860s, but they don't have quite the same supply of cheap labour as back then from Ireland and China. Nor do we have the human power available to Brunel back in the olden days. As to "doomed" - depends on which bit of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) you mean.

He stood as a Liberal Democrat and polled 190 votes, as did the other Lib Dem Laura Barry (no relation). That was a significantly lower number than the Lib Dems managed in the previous election.

I'm not usually one to advocate change for change's sake, but some rebranding is inevitable and should be done quickly, but not from TfW^▸ (Transport for Wales) to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) so close to the end of the franchise as we know it. The Big Bang will come as the first services are readied under our new transport flagship, Great British Railways.

The first step is new uniforms for public-facing staff to show that there is a difference, even if it's the only sign of one. That will have to happen one day, so may as well be done soon.  British companies should make and supply all the kit.

For rolling stock, prudence should over-ride eagerness. I'm sure we call all manage with the trains still in the old livery, as we have many times before, until a need for change arises. Relatively small things such as safety cards, maps, displayed posters etc can be stuck over the previous livery until refurb time comes around, with exterior vinyl being replaced as and when trains are due for a refresh. For stations, the same sort of minimalist approach will suffice until major overhaul becomes necessary - after all, it's a railway station. Nobody is going to confuse it with anything else just because it still has an old company logo somewhere.

If my own experience of such matters happening in government are anything to go by, the uniforms will be issued first to anyone working all day every day in windowless offices on the uppermost floors of a high-rise office block. They will have been ordered from Temu or Shein, and because they can't be exchanged in the case of minor cosmetic issues because someone at DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) didn't read the small print, the government may find it cheaper to change the name of the organisation to match the new "GRATE BRITTISH RAILWAY" corporate dress. A station newly refurbished or with the paint just dry after a billion-pound rebuild will be the first to be repainted in the wrong colour, followed by the newest train on the network. After months of cancellations because of more trains than usual being repainted, a strike will be announced in time for the start of the World Cup.

I wonder why Barry Cash has opted for anonymity in his latest tour of the local papers with his flagellated necrotic equine? Is he worried that nobody will take it seriously if he does? As if nobody who has heard of this will fail to realise he is the spokesman (and chairman, secretary, treasurer, member etc).