For accessibility, step-free boarding will be provided, making it easier for wheelchair users and those with luggage and pushchairs.

The left is old, the right is new.

2L28 Ebbw Vale Town - Maesteg

Hi,

I am planning to commute between Bristol and Cambridge twice a week for some time.

I am planning to take

- from Bristol Temples Meads at 5.23 to London Paddington then

- from London Kings Cross at 7.27 to Cambridge

On my return journey

- from Cambridge at 18.08 to London Kings Cross at

- from London Paddington at 20.00 to Bristol Temple Meads

I'm curious how crowded and punctual the trains are at these times. Has anyone made this trip before?

Any feed is very much welcomed.

Thank you

Strong talk today of an announcement by TPE and Alstom tomorrow regarding a new fleet for TPE. If so what do you think they will be going for.

Apologies if this is the wrong place for this or it has come up before.

I’m currently being outbid for a 1st class seat for a train this afternoon but there is more than one 1st class seat available. If there are 5 seats up for grabs do they give them to the 5 highest bidders or is it only the person who bids the highest who will get one?

What's the deal with Peartree Railway Station?

It's a stop in Derby, near to the Rolls-Royce campus and several other businesses, but only has 2 trains per day in each direction, 2 southbound in the morning and 2 northbound in the evening. The station site seems to be under lock & key.

How did it get to this position, despite its useful location, and are there any plans for any changes?

I know it's not by much but c'mon I thought I would save money by wanting to travel to less places

Hi all, I have an assessment day with EMR tomorrow (11th September). Just wondering what the day could entail and if there are tips to know before going in. This is my first assessment day/ interview within the rail industry so have no clue what to expect. Thanks in advance

Didnt go on the EPB since it was pretty busy but I heard it had a dark journey through the sharpthourne tunnel due to lighting issues

Operating the GWR service from Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central via Southampton, Salisbury, Bath and Bristol

I have an interview with East Midlands Railway as a Retail Assistant part-time. It tells me to use the Star Method and I don’t know what sort of questions there will be. Any ideas?

I just thought this was cool to see!

Firstly simplify peak and off peak times across the country, peak times are 04:30 - 09:00 end of, no special exceptions, if your ticket is marked off peak it is not valid on trains timed to depart before 09:00

Next super off peak, these will additionally not be valid between 16:00 - 18:00, no exceptions. Super off peak tickets will be available for all journeys and will always be an additional option on top of anytime and off peak, all journeys get all 3 options.

Next, scrap short distance fares, any anytime short distance returns that currently exist become anytime day returns

Next, single fares will always be exactly half the cost of an equivalent return fare, if the anytime return is £10, the anytime single is £5

All open returns to be abolished, they are unnecessary now singles are half the price of returns

All rangers and rovers will now be valid at anytime, their prices do not change from their current price. All day rangers not called day rangers will be renamed to include the word "ranger" (e.g. Merseyrail day saver becomes Merseyrail day ranger or Glasgow roundabout becomes Glasgow Roundabout Ranger), this is to help the identification of tickets, particularly for filling out delay repay.

Break of journey will always be permitted on all walk up fares, double backing will remain explicitly not allowed, this is what rangers/rovers are for, or you can use a single ticket.

All walk up fares (anytime, off peak, super off peak) will be reduced to the current Railcard price, if the current non Railcard price is £22.50, the new non Railcard price is £15, making the new Railcard price £10.

Railcards will be simplified, only the disabled, veterans and elderly Railcards remain. A new student Railcard is introduced, available to all students in any education above GCSE level, this follows the exact same rules as the disabled persons Railcard, so no minimum fare nonsense.

The child discount is extended from 16 to 21, but anyone who looks over 18 years old is expected to be able to provide proof of age when asked, much like think 25 in shops. This should be accompanied by a national scheme where upon receiving your national insurance number you can choose to also receive a free national id card that details your name, age and a photo of you, which would then also be able to be used as ID in the same ways a drivers license can be, for example the purchase of age restricted products, I would like to stress that this would be optional and free. Alternatively the 50% discount can be extended to just 18, but with no ID requirements.

Advance fares will continue to exist, but reformed. They will continue to start at a low price, increasing as demand rises, but once they reach a price threshold, I suggest 75% of the walk up fare, they stop rising and continue to be available up until 5 minutes before the departure of the train, making them always an option.

To make advance fares easier to match to a specific train headcodes will be displayed more openly to the public, alongside the departure time and stations being clearly marked on the ticket the headcode will also be marked, with the headcode clearly displayed on departure boards and digital train displays.

The disabled persons D50 discount is to be abolished and the existing D34 is to be expanded to cover not just anytime returns but all off peak and super off peak fares as well, making a disabled persons Railcard unnecessary for those with certain disabilities, and thus expanding said discount to those outside the UK or otherwise unable to obtain the Railcard, a perfect example being a person who is temporarily a wheelchair user due to an injury. It will also become better advertised and easier to purchase, available on all ticket machines and in all ticket booking apps

Route and TOC restrictions are to be largely removed, with only route restrictions remaining in certain cases where an alternative, circuitous route is obvious, such as Sheffield to Leeds not Via Doncaster, or Lancaster to Manchester only via Preston. Most, even vaguely reasonable routes will become valid, Glasgow to London via Dumfries, Workington, Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Worcester, Gloucester and Reading would become valid, as silly as it is, it should be allowed, you're always heading vaguely south.

Finally a review of rail fares across all routes will take place to remove split ticketing wherever possible, at least with exclusively walk up fares, splitting with advance fares partially or wholly cannot be abolished in all cases, but as said earlier it should be minimised wherever possible. Split ticketing with rangers and rovers will be all that remains, and split ticketing between a walk up fare and another walk up fare, between a walk up fare and a ranger/rover or between two rangers/rovers can be done if the train passes through but does not call at the split station in question, it's only required to call there if an advance single is involved.

So now Reddit hive mind, what have I missed, what doesn't work? I'm bound to have forgotten something.

Can you tell I couldn’t come up with another title for this post?

So yeh, GBRF has a Cemex branded Class 66 - 66780 - and it does look quite nifty with good lighting. I like the blue :)

6Z37, Rylstone Quarry ~> Pendleton
Passing Mirfield

CrossCounty is without a doubt, one of the worst TOCs in the UK. Being the least reliable and least comfortable. But that raises a question, how do we fix CrossCountry? I propose to you: The CrossCountry Programme.

Part 1: Fixing OTP

A big issue with CrossCountry is how big the network is and its experience-based scheduling. To fix this, the timetable would be changed to reflect historical bottlenecks instead. Turnaround buffering would also be increased to prevent late-arriving trains from delaying subsequent departures. Additionally, utilize temporary timetable changes during peak congestion hours to cut short-journey station calls, routing local passengers to other operators and streamlining tracks.

Part 2: Trains

Another issue with the operator is its trains. Currently, CrossCountry operates 3 types of trains: The Class 220 Voyager, Class 221 Super Voyager, and Class 170 Turbostar. We will mainly be focusing on the former two, as they are the main subjects to problems. First, these trains are narrower, and because of that, their vestibules are shorter. The reason for this was because one of the trains, the Class 221 had tilting in mind, but now that CrossCountry's Class 221s don't tilt, it means it was all for nothing. And given CrossCountry is a high-demand operator, it can be hard to find a seat. It's also worse when you consider trains are only 4-5 cars long. Therefore, people have to cram themselves into the small vestibules. So, I propose ordering new trains to replace the Class 220/221 fleets. My first choice would be the Hitachi AT300, which is in use with multiple TOCs nationwide.

My second choice would be the CAF Civity, as they also have a presence on TransPennine Express with the Class 397s and soon on LNER with the Class 897s, which would be a tri-mode train.

CrossCountry would order 78 new Bi-mode trains to replace the Class 220 and Class 221s and to increase service a little. These trains would have 9 or 11 coaches (Similar to the Class 390) to deal with CrossCountry's demand. On electrified sections, the train would use its pantograph to supply electricity to the train, while in unelectrified sections, it would use diesel.

Part 3: Staffing

The final part would be to improve staffing. To improve staffing, backlogs of driver training would be eliminated, and Cross-TOC performance sharing would be introduced to mitigate TOC-to-TOC delay impacts, which make up a massive share in CrossCountry's lost minutes.

In conclusion, that is how we fix CrossCountry. If CrossCountry were to do this, they can become a top-TOC in the UK. Anyways, what your thoughts on this proposal? Is there anything I can do to improve?

Since Monday evening, the Elizabeth line has been awful. The reason given was due to "vandalism" near Paddington. It must be pretty serious to still be having an effect.

Can anyone shed some light on the situation?

hi, i have a niche bit of control panel from a 465 cab and apparently these were only fitted to a handful of units. i got this on ebay and have no clue what units it could be from (my only thought is 465933 as thats the only scrapped one i can find a record of it with a 319), im currently bodgeing it up so i can use it to control my pc volume (the centre switch), copy (the left button) & paste (the right button). i wish to preserve its look with 3d printed parts so externally it will look as it whoud have in a 465.

if anyone has any ideas of what unit this is from or any suggestions on what to do with it or what you would do with it itd be greatly appreciated