Looks like massive expansion of Frome has just been approved by Secretary of State, 1700 houses, 2 care homes, employment land, shops

Land bounded by railway and bypass

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/called-in-decision-land-south-of-frome-bounded-by-marston-road-b3092railway-line-and-a361-frome-bypass-and-including-land-to-the-south-of-a361-r

I worked in oil trading for few years, middle office, not an actual trader.   But it hasn't been very well explained because USA is very much affected.   Basically other countries are short, so a US refinery has a choice of shipping it to local gas stations, or exporting it and being paid much more.   So the only way locals can get fuel is paying lot more to match the alternative export price.

Nearly all the tankers affected by Strait of Hormuz are crude or dirty fuel (heavy fuel).  Light ends (clean) tankers which carry petrol, kerosene, jet fuel etc are not stuck in Arabian Gulf.

Thats part of the reason why diesel fuel is jumping in price lot more than gasoline, because its bulk transport is more restricted, the other reason is that it is end of winter (and diesel is close to heating oil) so stocks are seasonally at lowest.

And if you try to book by train for a summer weekend instead, effectively get no availability (yet) of fares, unlike the airlines that are happy to allow people to book summer break.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) is happy to let book tickets upto 24 weeks ahead on selected routes according to its website (not that I have ever managed to find a list of routes they have selected, so no idea which routes), but won't let anyone book weekends beyond 5th July (which is why I picked the comparison in opening post).

Are GWR seriously scared there might be engineering works on the major holiday routes to South West at height of summer, stopping these advances being released through to end of August. We all know the works are never done peak season, so why is GWR holding back whilst airlines have opened summer bookings ?

Ok I realise EasyJet is an airline, but the vey fact that they are starting competition with a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) routes suggests it could merit discussion.

Strictly can travel the route by using the North Downs line between Gatwick and Reading, and then either direct to Newquay (at the limited times of through train), or changing again in Cornwall.

Even if take the more vague route of London to western Cornwall how does price and time stack up

https://www.cornwallairportnewquay.com/press/easyjet-to-launch-london-gatwick-to-newquay-flights-for-summer-2026/

Taking example of last Saturday in June (27th) it is £44.99 out and £52.49 back week later 4th July (before adding extras)

GWR website, London to Newquay on same dates and nearest same departure times of 07:05 and 09:15 is from £62 out and from £72 return, with various ticket prices upto staggering £469.40 for anytime first class return.

Has GWR missed a trick by allowing airlines to undercut it on cheapest fare, thoughts please

If daft enough to actually pay £469.40 what would you actually get, I suspect there is not a First class lounge at Newquay serving champagne breakfasts at weekends. 

Actually heat pumps running at nearer 35c can be nearer 400% efficient.   But at these cooler temperatures the radiators need to be about 50% bigger.

Very old radiators (big cast iron type) operated at 80-95c
Modern steel radiators with gas boilers normally operate at 60-65c
Heat pump radiators operate at 35-50c

With gas the temperature differential (known as delta T) between input and output of radiator is usually around 12-20c.   But when coupled to a heat pump the flow restrictor (the valve on the output) needs to be set up properly to give a very accurate temperature differential between water input pipe and output pipe.

There was a recent Guy Martin TV^▸ (Thames Valley, or TeleVision, depending on context) programme, and it showed it can take 3 or 4 hours to set these properly across a whole house (and some fitters skimp), if not done properly then system is never fully efficient.   

Worth watching, they started with a bog standard 1930s semi and ended up bettering passive house standard.  If invest in insulation and do installations properly (not slapdash way some contractors work) then homes are virtually zero cost to heat. 

The heating cost is all upfront in better installation and insulation and doesn't cost much extra at build stage. With negligible or zero running costs (as shown in the TV programme)   It is a real eye opener compared to wasteful £26bn per year short term Government policy of spending billions every year giving running costs subsidies, energy price caps,  and winter payments to pensioners.  £26bn is £1000 per household per year, I personally would prefer the cash to upgrade the house if Government going to spend it anyway.

Couldn't find a recent thread

3 new Alexander Dennis 100 EV (narrow) buses are now being delivered for Salisbury Red routes, photo of them on the link.


https://bus-news.com/alexander-dennis-delivers-new-enviro100-ev-buses-to-go-south-coast/

I guess these 3 buses are a start to bringing Wiltshire into 21st Century with low carbon transport, although 3 buses with 26 seats each isn't really going to transform a county with 510,000 people

March 2026 enhancements plan with estimated target dates

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CP7-Enhancements-Delivery-Plan-Mar-2026-Update.pdf

Some selected items for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area (more details on document)

Oxfordshire Connect (capacity & time improvements) March 2029

Cardiff Central station modernisation March 2030

Acton West - Acton Wells (known as Poplar lines) electrification July 2026

Metrowest phase 1b (Portishead line) December 2028

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have released a report, with case study of 11 stations, regarding growth (economic, housing and jobs)

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/publications/growing-places-report-2026.pdf

Has some interesting charts on page 13 which unless I am misreading them seem to suggest office growth is expected to be lot faster in South West than South East.

I am still trying to comprehend if it is basically a nudge to Government saying we need to expand railway away from London, specifically in South west (rather than London & SE or north), or what else it is trying to achieve.

There is even a section on pollution, but doesn't seem to offer a solution, guess they can't move the 387s or utilise surplus 350/2 due to Bristol being a non electrified railway.   Not clear to me if it is saying we are held back by not being an electrified railway, or if it is saying aren't we clever for just about managing.

Bit of an old thread, but have today (23 March 2026) announced electrification is finished.

I think Cardiff Bay line was final bit energised.

https://news.tfw.wales/news/100-percent-electrification-of-the-core-valley-lines-complete

Wonder what happens now, presumably disperse the teams, lose the knowledge etc because don't have rolling programme, lose ability to quickly do another bit etc.

The last time I traveled on a 150 in South Devon, there was a certain amount of exhaust fumes, and hot engine smell drifting in through the open windows.  It was also a very noisy train (engine noise, not passenger chatter) especially compared to quiet of my electric car.

If that is normal ambience for a 150, not surprising bit of smoke was ignored.

Travelling in a 150 is not like the experience of a 387 electric unit, no fumes, and just a faint hum from the motors.

Brabazon is one of 7 new towns (although some are more like a new district on edge of an existing conurbation) in today's Government announcement


https://www.gov.uk/government/news/seven-new-towns-proposed-to-kickstart-housebuilding-push

Whilst Gloucestershire might have decided on a way forward, Wiltshire has got itself in a complete muddle on strategic plans.  Not directly related to WEMCA^» (West of England Mayoral Combined Authority - about) but Wiltshire councillors have directed their planning teams to try and get too few new homes etc.  Or put new town and expansion where there were no transport (and other) facilities.

Basically Planning Inspectorate have told Wiltshire to heavily amend proposed plan (which will take time, and need to incorporate the Angela Raynor increased housing target because effectively restarting with new targets, rather than in progress when new targets announced), or they abandon 8 years preparation.  Council will vote to choose which option in May at a full Council meeting.

https://www.localplanservices.co.uk/_files/ugd/017f5b_41ba1d6878834f45ad1450539c829d5c.pdf

So looks like Wiltshire might soon be rudderless when it comes to a strategic plan.

However with no suitable reversing points at WECA boundary, and trains having to continue into Wiltshire, will be interesting to see how this will progress, especially if leads to new developments not where they were expected, and thus transport flows changed.

Did a bit more number crunching on latest ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) (Oct-Dec 2025) quarterly data

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/2hto1os3/passenger-rail-usage-oct-dec-2025.pdf

From table 1 GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) passengers up 6% in a year (8% year earlier)
From table 2 GWR passengers 5% more Km travelled, so slight decrease in average journey length (km travelled also up 5% year earlier)

From table 4 increased train km by 3% (also 3% previous year)
From table 5 increased vehicle km by 2% (5% previous year)
so average number of vehicles per train has fallen again (trains getting shorter)

Obviously if passenger km up 5%, but vehicle km only up 2% then trying to squeeze 3% more passengers per vehicle, which inevitably is going to lead to more standing or crowding on some routes at certain times.

Comparing to the Oct-Dec 2023 data, there is now over 10% increase in passenger km in 2 years.   So how does GWR intend to cope with this growth ?   
.... offload 3x4car HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)), introduce (slowly) 68 class 175s, net 56 vehicles on a fleet of around 950 vehicles, in other words only cover about half the 10%, and expect other 5% to squeeze in or stand.

Further engineering work has been announced

No trains Fareham - Portsmouth
Saturday 28 March to Thursday 2 April (6 days)

Suspended in Southampton area Sat 11 April - Sun 12 April

Easter weekend Friday 3 April to Mon 6 April has a line closure St Denys-Eastleigh-Winchester, so the Southampton - Fareham - Havant area trains likely to be carrying diverted passengers too.

No trains Fareham - Portsmouth
Monday 25 May to Friday 29 May  (5 days)

No trains through Severn tunnel (diverted to Bristol Parkway)
Sat 22 May - Mon 8 June (17 days)
(so just Bristol-Parkway-Fareham 25-29 May)

So dozens of days in first half 2026 when line is not operating throughout, both weekends and weekdays

The only problem with having the name Bristol Brabazon, is when a passenger wanting a ticket types Bristol into station name box, it will be alphabetically ahead of Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads.

Can't understand how demoting Temple Meads to third place on a list of stations beginning Bristol was seen as a good idea