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Broken & Late Ltd: Britain's Railways

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    TFL has another go at taking Southern and Southeastern services in-house. I guess they don't think Grayling will be around for long.

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      Ach, when I saw this thread active again I thought Tubbs had returned.

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        Oh dear.

        How sad.

        What a pity.

        Stagecoach lose Midland Main Line franchise and are barred from other bids


        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47877858

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          Abellio got the franchise, BTW. Still no word on South Eastern. I'm still hoping it will be nationalised, but it seems very unlikely with Grayling still in place.

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            Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
            Abellio got the franchise, BTW. Still no word on South Eastern. I'm still hoping it will be nationalised, but it seems very unlikely with Grayling still in place.
            Judging by some of the reports on how they've fared in Scotland since taking over Scotrail and the East Anglia routes that's not necessarily a good thing.


            However, it looks like it's taken Virgin Trains (West Coast) down with them so a long overdue metaphorical kick in the grillocks for the Beard.

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              Abellio in my experience were awful, worse than south eastern.

              Has the whole southern rail dispute ended or is it just no longer news?

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                Abellio (Northern) are as "good as can be expected under the circumstances"


                Handed desperately shitty obsolete broken down rolling stock, and told replace as soon as possible.


                What pisses me off about them is their incessant twitter feed telling me about the brand new shiny electric trains operating out of Manchester and Leeds

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                  Yet another short extension for SE. *sigh*

                  With regards to the South Eastern franchise competition, I am also today updating the House that my department is negotiating a short-term extension to the current franchise agreement with Govia while we make a decision on the competition. This will ensure continuity of services for passengers until 10 November 2019, with an option to extend the agreement further to April 2020.
                  Speaking of rolling stock, From The Murky Depths reckons South Eastern will be getting the trains that SWT commissioned and the new franchisee isn't using (gotta love joined up franchising). Supposedly they're basically the same as the new Thameslink trains, so not amazing but a lot nicer than the current SE stock, which is ancient and crappy. But as the blog points out, they're only available in 5/10 carriage configurations.

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                    5/10?


                    Pacers weren't even marked that highly when they were introduced

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                      Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
                      Abellio (Northern) are as "good as can be expected under the circumstances"


                      Handed desperately shitty obsolete broken down rolling stock, and told replace as soon as possible.


                      What pisses me off about them is their incessant twitter feed telling me about the brand new shiny electric trains operating out of Manchester and Leeds
                      Except Northern are operated by Arriva. They were give the rolling stock from the previous franchisee, Serco Abellio, who didn’t introduce any new trains in the 14 years they operated it.

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                        Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                        not amazing but a lot nicer than the current SE stock, which is ancient and crappy.
                        Hmm, I wonder where those ancient and crappy trains will end up? [/poorly disguised sarcasm]

                        (Joking of course, we can only dream of having electric trains up here. We'll probably just get more Sprinters.)

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                          Originally posted by Big Boobs and FIRE! View Post

                          Except Northern are operated by Arriva. They were give the rolling stock from the previous franchisee, Serco Abellio, who didn’t introduce any new trains in the 14 years they operated it.
                          But apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?

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                            Branson.

                            again.


                            Virgin trains want all inter-city services to be pre-booked and open access to all operators on the lines


                            exactly the same way they stopped services to Wrexham



                            https://www.theguardian.com/business...eating-for-all

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                              What was the Wrexham story?

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                                Children Railways sought to run a service into Shrewsbury and Wrexham direct to Marylebone as a non-franchise service.



                                Virgin then suddenly decided to extend their franchised service from Chester to Euston into Wrexham, after having previously objected to the application.

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                                  Pacer/Sprinter chat and all that, I heard a Northern guard chatting at a bobby a few months back that once we lose the Pacers (you know, I have a sudden urge for chewy mint sweets), we may well regret it a bit, as the Pacers are basically mechanical and don't break down, particularly the doors, but newer trains are electronical and so more likely to go wrong and be cancelled etc.
                                  Any buffs able to comment?

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                                    Dunno, but summat similar was said about the new trains on the Metropolitan Line. Hasn't happened yet, but it's still early days...

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                                      Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
                                      Children Railways sought to run a service into Shrewsbury and Wrexham direct to Marylebone as a non-franchise service.
                                      You can't win anything with kids.

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                                        On the electrical/mechanical split, I've heard similar fears expressed in the US, Germany, Italy, France and Japan.

                                        It all depends on the specific rolling stock in question.

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                                          Well this thread led me somewhere good. Looking into how the Kawasaki M8's on the Metro North work (they are as reliable as hell and I am pretty sure electronic), I learned they have 10 bar cars on order to bring back onto the line.

                                          This is the best news I have seen about commuting in a while (so long as they keep them off the morning service).

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                                            Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
                                            Branson.

                                            again.


                                            Virgin trains want all inter-city services to be pre-booked and open access to all operators on the lines


                                            exactly the same way they stopped services to Wrexham



                                            https://www.theguardian.com/business...eating-for-all
                                            Can't wait for those deliberately-overbooked EasyTrains.

                                            Anyway, if I built a mechanical train it would break down every two minutes without fail, so I'm calling cheap generalisation on the pacer chat.

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                                              Originally posted by SouthdownRebel View Post

                                              Can't wait for those deliberately-overbooked EasyTrains.

                                              Anyway, if I built a mechanical train it would break down every two minutes without fail, so I'm calling cheap generalisation on the pacer chat.
                                              Comparing it to the high speed trains in Frcnace does not make sense. The equivalent London to Glasgow/Edinburgh route is the Paris to Marseilles which only stops twice and takes three and a bit hours as well as travelling at double the speed.

                                              The Virgin train probably stops a dozen times and takes more than twice as long to reach it's destination.

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                                                This is getting some interesting feedback. Friend of mine is wielding the banhammer mightily to sanitise the comments.

                                                Mind the Gender Gap: The Hidden Data Gap in Transport

                                                https://www.londonreconnections.com/...p-in-transport

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                                                  That is a fascinating and important piece, Crusoe.

                                                  I am not aware of anyone having done similar work here, though I would expect that the gender differences within NYC are somewhat less stark, largely due to the relatively low level of car ownership.

                                                  We are in the midst of a series of debates over public transport issues that are massively influenced by demographics, but apparently have very little reliable data about the composition of the population that relies on various modes. One of the most contentious subjects is our new ferries, which are a lot of fun (and a particular love of the Mayor), but which require operating subsidies of USD 12 a passenger that dwarf those of any other form of public transit. Some of those costs reflect the system's recent start (i.e,, buying boats and building landings), but the subsidies are still several times those for the subway after controlling for those factors.

                                                  Lots of people believe that the ferries are an expensive bauble for the affluent who have begun moving to the shoreline in numbers, and I recently attended a City Council meeting where city officials repeatedly claimed not to have any demographic data at all on ridership, only to be contradicted by ferry riders who swore that they had participated in surveys asking just those questions.

                                                  The matter is now "under advisement".

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                                                    https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHand...x?id=45064&p=0

                                                    dunno how much of this report will be implemented, but if even a third of it was put in place Glasgow would have a true modern metro rail network like "normal" European cities of comparable size. The poverty of low expectations has gone on for too long (see also the multiple development plans for Dublin Urban rail and metro these past 40 years).

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