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Perhaps it felt believable because I've watched too many episodes of the Thick of It. Plus the idea that Network Rail will spend 6-9 months rebuilding a bridge for a project that is now - at best - on indefinite hold is another Chef's Kiss moment for the continuing sitcom that is UK major...

I think you're being a bit too kind to those that hold the purse-strings and sponsor these schemes. They should have known that a rapid ramp up in electrification (or any other type of activity) and reliance on insufficiently proven technology brings risk. But they looked at the cheap debt and...

Experience of other Arms Length Bodies suggests they will need DfT approval to announce the start of delivery (edit: and Dft / Heidi Alexander will probably want to do this) What we have seen is necessary tactical communication to prepare for and explain disruption to others, and to ensure they...

Appreciate I may get in trouble for posting a fact in a Speculative thread Network Rail have applied to Nottinghamshire County Council to close the A6006 at the Rempstone Road overbridge at Normanton on Soar from October 6th 2025 to July 17th 2026. Link to one.network, which most local...

I thought this was an interesting part of the country to get my crayons out for. I'd echo the issue that a Silverstone link would be virtually unused until the point when you had an event and it'd need to be like the SWR Metro operation for Twickenham match days. The problem is I think that...

The park is planned to open in 2031. It is now 2025. I am not sure 6 years is enough for EMR/DfT to get 21 trains tarted up and running reliably. Perhaps somebody here can do the Clappedouttrainio Refurbum spell? I am told that when used correctly, a ghastly (Oops, I meant ghostly) apparition...

Probably easier to get the digital effects in George Lucas style and re-edit the films with the steam train replaced by a 12-car EMR Connect 360 formation. Not many non-magical folk have every seen that either.

There is an active discussion in another thread about what could EMR could use to fill a looming hole in its IC fleet as a number of 222s leave for Lumo in the autumn. Hogwarts Express is about the only option that has not yet been put forward.

*I* don't plan to do anything, I've enough problems of my own! :lol: EMR ran a microfleet of 180s before, so presumably could again (albeit perhaps less efficiently). Does seem like EMR's service is teetering on the brink. 170s are very stretched and some units off for refurb. Somebody else...

I think to summarise 11 pages, the main options appear to be: 1. Project Britain: Take the "true British" path of muddling through (defer departure from EMR as long as possible, more crush loading/passengers left behind, cut a few less popular services) and hope it doesn't get too much...

Agree with this; there has been a huge amount of wishful thinking in the transport sector about how much biofuel there is (and about how hydrogen can be a cheap and non-disruptive substitute). What this means is that the quick and easy carbon reductions obtained simply by switching from...

My contribution to the UK Government tax revenue is minimal. Therefore I should not pay taxes ;-) i.e. I agree with the practical point that rural railways will have a very high £/tCO2 abated, every application/industry will have some edge cases that are difficult/expensive, and we can't just...

Something pathed as a 125mph DMU is/was supposed to be going Old Dalby -> Chesterfield -> Derby -> Nottingham -> Toton -> Nottingham -> Old Dalby today. Although it was supposed to start around 0930 and has not yet appeared, so perhaps will not run. Tomorrow, there is a trip to Crewe and back...

I did think for that in this world the MML basically simplifies to a fast line and slow line service pattern, however if you add ~7 stops to a Sheffield train south of Leicester, that is going to cost 10-15 mins on headline journey timesv with these new high power trains (more like 30 with...

I honestly have no idea of the answer to this, but a Class 374 with all the trailers removed is getting into the right ballpark (2MW per powered vehicle), so I wondered whether, once all the batteries have been put under the floor, whether there's room in the vehicle for 2MW of inverters, aircon...

To flesh out the current detail on HS2, perhaps worth recording here that the current state of play is that contracts were awarded in Nov 2024 Colas for the OHL / catenary systems Siemens Mobility Costain JV for the HV power systems Is it worth dropping in a line in the next update, that EWR...

810s have shorter carriages than other 80x to allow a 10-car train to fit into 240m platforms at St Pancras international. Don't know about this platform but presumably OK if the usable length is 120m or more. Looks like it may have gone back and forth between Derby and Sheffield a couple of...

Thanks. I am wondering no more.

I'd second this, based on discussions with people from the Northern DNOs. Quite a bit of capacity in the 33-132 kV levels, in areas that were once industrial (Different problems at transmission, lower voltages and rural areas) The reason to do discontinuous electrification is to enable the...

Can't comment on the second part, but if the 350/2 withdrawal thread is anything to go by, the first LNWR ones were stood down in Autumn 2024. That Porterbook haven't yet announced a conversion either means they think they don't need to (i.e. can lease it as a pure EMU) or are unwilling to take...