In BTP’s 12 days of Christmas, their 7th, 8th and 9th messages are not really for the law-abiding travellers who read our blog, but they give an indication of some of the problems faced: staff abuse [Click here ]; cable theft [Click here]; and violence on trains [Click here].
On the first day of Christmas British Transport Police gave to me – a warning about personal safety. As Christmas approaches more and more people will be heading out to celebrate the festive season with friends and family. Now December is upon us, Christmas parties will start in earnest and British Transport Police in the [...]
Last October and not for the first time a Government Minister has talked about fares in Northern England being far behind those in the rest of Britain making it difficult to justify new or extra trains. Transport Minister Teresa Villiers brought this up again in her speech in Leeds last October – click the link in [...]
Roy Chapman of TfGM (who helped us back in 1990 with our original studies into putting a passenger service back onto the line through Middlewich) coordinates events for the Institute of Railway Operators in the North West & North Wales. Here’s details of their latest event next Wednesday from Duncan Law, Network Rail’s Northern Hub [...]
With acknowledgement to STORM for this, we ask that as many of you as possible complete Network Rail’s questionnaire on the perceived benefits to you and your colleagues of the Ordsall Lane Curve, Victoria Station Improvements, Northern Hub and North West Electrification. Click here for the survey.
There were worrying words from Teresa Villiers, Rail Minister at Northern Rail’s Conference in Leeds on 20 October. It seems apart from the Ordsall Curve, that the rest of the Northern Hub may be cut back or postponed due to overspends elsewhere (South East England – where else!!) It’s apparently “an expensive package”, though it’s [...]
We’ve talked about the serious overcrowding in the Leeds and Manchester areas more than a few times since this Blog started. Last December we blogged about when we might see the overcrowding relieved, given the then further announcements that had been made. The cascade has started. Here’s 1986 built ex-London Midland class 150 150111 on [...]
Trains, stations and shops and pickpockets will be increasingly busy as Christmas approaches. You may not be a regular reader of the British Transport Police web site, so here is a link to some useful tips that they have to show you some common methods of losing your valuables. A few seconds watching these videos [...]
Yesterday, DfT announced through its website the next stage of the rolling stock cascade. In their press release is confirmation that Northern is getting back the 7 remaining class 142 Pacers that First Great Western have (two returned 2 weeks ago), though it doesn’t mention the 4 class 156 SuperSprinters that Northern is having to [...]
On Friday, Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Transport released a statement on the revised franchising timetable. It shows the Northern and TPE franchises extended to April 2014 with a view to considering prior to then whether to combine them or to split the services in some other way. Given the upcoming electrification programme, this [...]
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