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It'll be interesting to see what they focus on. c2c would be a good start, being fairly self-contained there wouldn't be much more than a TUPE across of staff and some rebranding. However, I'd expect Labour to want something more dramatic for their first TOC than just more of the same. Indeed...

Agreed, the railway is most efficient if people are on it for the shortest possible time so people should not be restricted to slower services. Brits seem generally fairly willing to pay the extra for faster trains already, so I don't think the world would explode though rolling stock...

If I remember correctly, the same person behind the (not implemented) GWR IEP timetable and the overallocatioj of 5 car units? The aspiration is that it will be more vertically integrated but it will still need to provide paths were identified for freight and open access. I presume the ORR...

The SRA was somewhat micromanagerial (though not to the same level as the current DfT) and not particularly strategic. Cutting the class 185 order from 56 to 51 units comes to mind...

HEx would likely remain as is, with the contract with GWR passing to GBR. Removing GatEx is not popular with the airport, and I suspect the DfT like the money. It does matter, changes to permitted development go through Parliament and are voted for by MPs. I don't mind cell sites but I don't...

Please provide an example of a railway company that will freely give anyone access. In the UK you'd have BT, Sky/Easynet, Vodafone, Neos Networks, CityFibre, Colt, Glide... and more all wanting access along the major routes. Deutsche Bahn provides a dark fibre network with interconnections at...

Buy and build? I can't see much point to a government-owned-but-not-subsidised ROSCO over GBR buying trains in cash. What future GBR should do is vary its financing methods depending on what makes sense for each order. TfL already regularly does this with the recent 378 refinancing. From an...

No. If rolling stock is purchased in cash by the government, it must be funded via debt taken on via the Treasury. The interest rate at the Treasury is typically higher than available on the private market. If leasing costs more, you wouldn't have seen TfW leasing its new fleets. Unclear but...

If it's good value, you generally don't need to tell people...

International traffic being short of expected is well known, HS1 international services are constrained by St Pancras' check in facilities being constrained. However, there are more domestic services than originally envisioned.

I cant see why it couldn't be done, though it doesn't get around new sets being very expensive, and having a long lead time.

Word elsewhere on the forum is that Hitachi are only offering new sets (and not additional intermediate cars) from Italy and Japan. Both of those plants are busy so new sets would have long lead times and high prices. If Hitachi would supply new sets from Newton Aycliffe at a reasonable price...

Both of which are fairly self-contained and have enough rolling stock. GA has also got much quicker stock but the timetable hasn't been tightened, its noticeable on the WCML that there isn't much slack at most station stops so when a train gets delayed it often struggles to make up time. The...

Any XC rebrand feels pointless unless they do it after the additional stock is in and routes are up to a decent capacity. XC's routes are already attractive but it needs longer trains. If the 12 extra voyagers are enough, future advertising on XC needs to focus on its trains being much longer.

Not really. For electronic components, one supplier makes sense as there is integration work. Multiple manufacturers can make parts like the aluminum body panels to the Aventra spec with no additional work needed at Bombardier/Alstom. Multiple production locations have already been mentioned...

Maybe the DfT mandated white wasn't so bad after all... They don't seem to have learnt from the current livery that their trains can take a while to get cleaned. It's not going to hide the dirt that well. 170 looks quite nice. The voyager combines 2 nice ideas and 3nds up with a livery which...

In the Inside The Factory episode they were covered and the text looked like they had come from overseas. It's quite likely that Bombardier/Alstom are sourcing from multiple suppliers.

Newton Aycliffe was meant to be Hitachi's entry to Europe, but their subsequent purchase of AnsaldoBreda (now Hitachi Rail Italy) undermined this. Brexit has hardly helped either.

Adessia is a new platform that draws on features of the Aventra, like the Flexx Eco bogies, but will have been adapted to work across more countries and allow for varying floor heights. Alstom often has more funky designs which can be unpopular in markets where a more traditional train is...

What does built from scratch mean? The bodywork on Aventra is 4 aluminum extrusions made overseas and bolted together in Derby, the bogies are made in Siegen, Germany, and the traction motors and equipment come from Vasteras, Sweden. Modern manufacturing has pieces made all around the world.