Well I did say, earlier in this thread, something about HS2 costings in Wiltshire.....................

Has the cost of the scheme really already gone up by £20m in five days?

  MP 98.7 - 103.6  Between Tisbury and Gillingham (near Semley)
MP 108.6 - 111.7  Between Gillingham and Templecombe
MP 124.3 - 128.4 Between Yeovil Junction and Crewkerne (near Sutton Bingham)
MP 146.4 - 150.4 Between Axminster and Honiton  (near Seaton Junction)

  Weekend Timetables (and August Bank Holiday Monday) have not yet been updated
The current weekday timetables are only valid until Friday 29 August.
September (and onwards) still show the "normal" hourly services - although it is almost certain that these will be amended in due course.
Trains will once again stop at Crewkerne station from 11 August.

... MCPLMHHSDHOHOKGOLMOSAOGBGN ...

Has the cost of the scheme really already gone up by £20m in five days?

10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 13:25 will be starting late from Great Malvern.
This is due to a points failure.
Last Updated:05/08/2025 08:05

10:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 13:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:05/08/2025 09:50

13:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 15:22 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:05/08/2025 09:50

If Cornwall’s 580000 can form a country, then along here in Hampshire can we have 3?

Paul

...  Also, I'm not sure whether that is the type of train that generally goes to Severn Beach. 

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:34

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:34 will be cancelled.

This is due to a fault on this train.

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25 will be cancelled.

This is due to a fault on this train.

Thousands of plants along Nottingham's waterways are being ripped out by the root.

Volunteers have spent more than 1,000 hours during the summer getting rid of Himalayan balsam - often seen in swathes with pretty pink flowers. But the invasive species, originating from the harsh mountain conditions of the Himalayas, is thriving here in the UK at the risk of local ecosystems.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has been running a project to protect wildlife and get rid of the invasive plants.

Himalayan balsam is a wild flowering plant that can grow up to two metres tall and grows large pink, bonnet-shaped flowers. Although they originate from the Himalayas, they are commonly seen in the UK, particularly along riverbanks.

Miriam Lawley, from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, is helping to deliver the 'Thriving in a Wilder Trent Project'. She explained that the plant was first introduced to the UK almost 200 years ago. "It was brought over first by the Victorians," she said. "Because it was such an attractive plant, they wanted to introduce it to their gardens."

Its place of origin means the "well-evolved and adapted" species can survive pretty much "anywhere", according to expert Ms Lawley. "Once it was brought over by the Victorians it kind of hit the jackpot because living is much easier here where the soil is quite fertile," she added.

In the UK, the plant is typically found along waterways because rivers and streams help to spread its seed. Because of that, the plant is prevalent on sites along the River Trent, including Attenborough Nature Reserve.

The plant usually starts to appear in May - or April, following a warm winter - and is found throughout the summer until August.

The species has an "explosive seed pod mechanism" which helps it scatter its seeds. Each individual plant can produce up to 800 seeds and and once ripe, the seed pods split open, spreading them as far as about seven metres.

"It very rapidly becomes a big problem in the UK when you have that many seeds spreading over such a large area," Ms Lawley said.

It was that mechanism that helped the plant spread beyond Victorian gardens and into natural areas. While Himalayan balsam might look pretty once flowered, it comes with a threat to local biodiversity, Ms Lawley said. By taking over large areas of natural land, the plant "out-competes" a lot of native plants that insects rely on.

Ms Lawley said: "One of the things that a lot of people think about Himalayan balsam is that it's really good for bees because we often see a lot of them flying around. Many of them are attracted to this really sweet smell but a lot of them can't actually get into the deep flowers to get the pollen because they've not evolved alongside this kind of flower. So we actually find that there's a lot of insect declines where Himalayan balsam is really prevalent, as well as the decline in native plants."

(BBC article continues)

A volunteer group said it wants to re-establish a historic off-road public route leading in and out of Hereford.

The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust (H&GCT) said restoring the link from Aylestone Park to the transport hub at the railway station, which is currently being built, would be a good fit with the city's transport plans.

The quarter-mile long tunnel is now largely filled with soil and industrial waste.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said it could "make a positive contribution to sustainable transport links across the city", adding the authority would continue to assist the trust in developing the plans.

"We would do the actual work ourselves," said Tony Higgins, H&GCT's membership secretary. "We have a hatful of people who want to get down there and make a start."



Where the route passes through industrial and retail estates, the trust would need to negotiate with the owners. "We would only need a small strip," added Mr Higgins.

The group also wants to restore the canal itself between the Aylestone Park section and the eastern end of the tunnel. "A walkway would be a win in the meantime," said Mr Higgins. "As a canal trust, we have to believe."

Talks held in Melksham to advance £30m train service plan

Wiltshire's railway system to be transformed in £50m scheme

This is ridiculous GWR cant even run a reliable service now let alone adding more trains. We were promised 5 car trains on the Portsmouth to Cardiff route years ago and they spent a fortune lengthening the platforms and have we seen 5 car trains absolutely not. Any additional trains for bath rugby weekends absolutely not the railways are a joke. Don't get me started on train drivers pay which is so much they don't have to work weekends so most trains are therefore cancelled because this stupid government failed to change their working practices.

You are correct, it’s only two carriages, absolutely pathetic.  Air conditioning that’s mostly not working or if it is working it’s blowing out warm air so the guard opens the windows.   On the Welsh trains some routes have a trolley service, you may remember the Inter City 125 service with the dining car with a chef for a hot meal , that’s long gone now.

I'm cautiously excited about this prospect. I'm not sure what the odds of it making the journey from plan through to completion are, but if it did, it'd be a tremendous improvement for the area. Right now people are effectively forced into driving everywhere, and the roads really aren't up to the task. Having other options would be wonderful and could allow for some much more sensible housing development than the current approach, which mostly seems to consist of sticking a bunch of 5-bed mini-mansions in the middle of a field, joining it to a creaking road system and letting God sort the traffic out.

Where’s the money then? I personally can’t see any of this happening in my lifetime. Corsham station should be reopened first. More wishful thinking on the supporters.

There going to be on time.and they’ve employed a leaf sweeper full time.and a heated front bumper just in case it snows.

How is this going to be funded at a time when the country is £3 trillion in debt?

Getting changed ready for the OHLE to be installed

Passengers on several Eurostar trains are facing delays and cancellations after a power supply issue on a rail line in northern France led to its closure.

The Eurostar website shows at least nine services on Monday between London and Paris have been cancelled, while a further 15 services have been delayed.

The problem started at about 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT) on Monday and disruptions are expected to continue until the end of the day, with trains being diverted to run on slower lines.

Eurostar has advised passengers to postpone their journeys if possible.

Some services between Brussels and Paris and between Amsterdam and Paris have also been cancelled, delayed or faced other disruptions due to the rail closure, which happened on the high-speed line between Moussy and Longueil in the Hauts-de-France region.

French track network operator SNCF Réseau said on its website that the "severely disrupted" services were due to a power supply issue which required "major repairs".

It predicted delays of between one and five hours on the Eurostar, as well as its other services TGV inOui and Ouigo.

Trains between London-Amsterdam, Brussels-Amsterdam, Brussels-London and Brussels-Cologne have not been impacted.

Eurostar said SNCF Réseau had told it that one track would be reopened at 18:30 CET (17:30 GMT) and that this would "allow trains to run again on the high-speed line but with limited service".

"Traffic should be able to resume on both tracks tomorrow morning when services start running again," it added.

Extra staff have been sent to affected stations to help passengers.

August is a peak period for cross-Channel travel due to school holidays, meaning services are often busier than normal.

Monday's disruptions come nearly a month after a Eurostar train travelling between Brussels and London had to be evacuated in northern France due to a power failure.

And in June, there were two days of major disruptions after separate fatal incidents on France's LGV Nord line, which was followed by cable theft.

Dozens of trains have been cancelled after signalling issues led to a freight train blocking a line near Avonmouth.

Disruption on the route between Clifton Down, Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach continued until 13:00 BST.

Great Western Railway (GWR) said the train was moved by 10:00 BST though delays and cancellations continue to affect the service.

Rail replacement buses in the form of 16-seater minibuses have been put in place but these will not run to the train timetable due to the extended journey time by road, GWR said.

Train tickets are also being accepted on a number of local bus services at no extra cost.

A link to a thread on Bluesky that puts out feelers re. HS2 phase 2a...

Mark

https://bsky.app/profile/roadscholar.bsky.social/post/3luxcviohgc2g

From the BBC: