Recent content by swaldman

Heading south on the WCML today, and on leaving Crewe we have been told that, (a) signalling issue between Crewe and Stafford means they are down to using just the slow lines for that stretch, and (b) derailment somewhere in the south has stopped all traffic between Euston and MK (though...

Green Park is infamous for its lengthy tunnels, if changing between the Jubilee line and anything else. They're probably not as long as some of the surfaces interchanges in large stations that people have mentioned, though.

Good point that the route probably has a dramatic effect here. On the Highlander people want to sit and have a meal or a drink. With the later departure of the Lowlander, a lot of folk probably go straight to bed.

Honestly, I've only used the new stock once - it's become too expensive for me these days. So I wouldn't put too much weight behind my comment. And I don't remember what day of the week that was. In Scotrail days it was certainly different - I usually got into the lounge car then.

IM(limited, of late)E it's often full from departure for some hours. Histocially if it was going to be busy the hosts would turn away non-Club pax - perhaps that has been relaxed to first come / first served more recently? In practice I know that I can't rely on being able to get into the...

Maybe they are! Seems awfully arrogant of you to assume you know whether people need the amount of stuff they are carrying. Traditionally, "if you can carry it it's OK" has been a major advantage of rail travel over planes, buses, etc.....

Two points worth considering in this: 1. Statistically, at this point, a working-age person in work is more likely to be in poverty than a pensioner. By quite a wide margin, if memory serves. 2. The housing crisis is a wicked problem, because successive govenrments have gotten themselves into...

Can't have too many tables, on medium to long distances. The biggest benefit of paying the extra to use the train rather than driving or flying is being able to work on the way. That requires a table. On a crowded train it can become a lottery whether you can get one, and thus whether you are...

Biggest change that I've noticed is a rise in people watching videos out loud or having conversations on video calls (or just voice calls on speakerphone) in public.

Ah, fair point - a limit not for the passengers, but for paths being available.

They've been advertising the same directly on Facebook too. I might use it to get back from my xmas break :)

Maybe this is UK-specific (though I'm not sure why). There are definitely counter-examples - e.g. the current European Sleeper service is only about 6 hours from Berlin to the earliest Dutch stations (which is about the shortest plausible useful journey, and is a bit short for a good night's...

Oh, I see. I strongly doubt that *any* UK sleeper service could ever be viable on a fully commercial basis. Nor, I tentatively suspect, are passenger railways in general, at least outside the London commuter zone. (I'm slightly interested in being wrong about this one, but this thread is not...

There are multiple flights between London and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Inverness...

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