How do you add a disabled Persons railcard to your credit/debit card that you'd touch in/out with please? Or do you have to use an Oyster card - which I thought TfL were trying to phase out in favour of touch in/out with payment cards?

 
Does the Data Protection Act come in somewhere. I know at least one local council that cannot use the electoral register for other council purposes; e.g. notifying change of bin collections. Might be different interpretations. Also is disability classified as a protected characteristic? Which could be another reason for not sharing.

 
is a fair old drag if you are on crutches or in wheelchair. I presume the councillor is able-bodied (apologies if there is a more woke way of putting it), put them in a wheelchair for a day?

 

Indeed - such excellent questions.  What will it be? ... with questions within that "who will be on it and consulted", "will it have teeth or just be a talking shop", "what will its remit be" and "will it, truly, be independent or always have one eye looking over its shoulder at its funding"?

 
One additional benefit of a disabled railcard is 50% off River Roamer fares on the Uboat Thames clippers in London.

A ENCTS issued outside London or a senior railcard will not be accepted.

I asked this question yesterday


Is a disabled railcard or senior bus pass eligible for the 50% discount on the day hop on/hop off ticket please?



 
Clipper Bot says:

If you have a Disabled Person Railcard, you’re good to go for a 50% discount on all our tickets, including the Hop-on Hop-off ticket.
A Senior Bus Pass isn’t listed as eligible for this discount, so unfortunately, it won’t get you the 50% off.

 

There is promised a new independent passenger watchdog - enveloping Transport Focus & the ORR's passenger parts plus other 'bits' still being developed (e.g. accessibility). We will need to await the Railways Bill in order to discover exactly what this being is - and whether there will be any requirement on it to consult passengers, or 'stakeholders' - & if the latter, whether the definition of 'stakeholders' includes passenger representatives, or indeed, actual passengers/users or simply the defined consultees.

A couple of weeks further to wait, I suspect for that.

 
I am so glad my work moved it's head office from Manchester to London

I used to hate travelling on a voyager, always overcrowded and for some reason people always seemed to struggle to find their reservation

I would even take sitting in a smoking carriage on an old HST against a voyager

 


I am noting this thread as a "service update and amendment log".   Yes, it makes total sense to keep the disruption reports that we post in one place, but yet at the same time I am concerned that on a line with so many services that it's going to be impractical for us / members to maintain as a complete log.


Would it be more practical for this thread to be "Service updates and amendments" without the term "log" which suggests that every change might be noted?

I am - severely indebted - to members and friends here for all the help given on the Swindon to Westbury log - THANK YOU, and long may that continue.  I am impressed by the work done on the North Cotswold board and that is a really useful log too - I am amazed how much / well that is updated; perhaps I shouldn't be, bearing in mind just how many people use that service.  And perhaps my fears of the Paddington to Bristol (where there are 50 services a day to monitor rather than 9 or 29) being a bit less than a log are needlessly worrying?  Thought / comments / inputs sought, please?

 
The rail industry money-go-round. What are the consequences on service and investment? How does it work?

In the UK we are told that the farebox accounts for two thirds of the rail industry income, and that it's a far higher proportion in the UK than in our neighbours on mainland Europe. Which is said to be why our fares are said to be "so much higher".  But how does that money from the farebox get passed through the system - how is it controlled and spent?



When trains were operated under a franchise model (No. 1 on my diagram, dashed blue lines), the money collected from the farebox went to the train operating company - subsidiaries of First, Stagecoach, Arriva, and others and was onward spend, subject to franchise terms, as they wished.  Some elements of those franchise terms were restrictive, mind.

As things moved from franchise to management contract, and as the shock of covid decimated the farebox, farebox money was all passed after collection to The Treasury (no. 2 on my diagram, green lines).  As I understand it, payment from The Treasury to the Department for Transport to run the railways was fiscally controlled / budgeted and didn't take account of the Farebox income, resulting in the contracts being such that innovative investment ideas were squashed, even if there was every likelihood that spending a pound would bring an extra ten pounds of revenue

We have now moved - again as I understand it, to the income from the farebox going to the Department for Transport (no. 3 on my diagram, the red line) which now allows for the consideration within that department of the effect on income of what they spend - so it's balance sheet sensitive and not just cost sensitive. Should the DfT wish to spend a pound to get ten more in income, it can now do so without having to go to The Treasury to ask.

The black lines on my diagram show various key bits of the money-go-round - some of them may not be huge sums in the overall picture, but never the less they represent the major funding flows for the organisations shown. 

I worry that - as shown on my diagram, key funding to Network Rail, the Train Operating companies (including the operator of last resort), Passenger Focus, the Office of Road and Rail, and the Community Rail Network ... and also to a myriad of others such as fledgling GBR, RAIB, RSSB, National Rail and the Railway Ombudsman are all controlled by that single organisation diretly.  Indirectly (?) they also hold purse strings / financial control over the RoSCos, Staff costs (salaries), Rail Delivery Group and these days over Community Rail Partneships.

What is ... missing ... from the diagram is an indication of any truly independent co-ordinators of customer and market (potential customer) input. And at a time when there's re-organisation and replanning underway, all the various current organisations funded via the DfT and also the individual employees in them will be concerned as to their own future.  Naturally so, but perhaps to the exclusion for practical purposes of the interests of the customer / passenger.  Is there a risky concentration of power - both judge and jury if you like to call it that - in the Department for Transport?

What organisations do we have left over which are not in the DfT funding tree, that can take a view that's not subject to taint by being on that tree?  Well - there’s Railfuture. The Campaign for Better Transport.  Our members of parliament. Our local community user groups though these can apply through CCIF and where they are station friends groups for the King's Shilling.

I am ... heartened ... in the knowledge that there are so many excellent people working in the organisations I have listed in this article, and that the vast majority of them appreciate the need for a public transport sector that's financially aware, safe, and provides transport with both the environment, and quality of life to the forefront. I just hope and 'pray' that the powers that be set things up for the future to meet those needs / desires, and that in the immediacy of the next year or two they remain at the forefront, being developed, and not swept up nor abandoned for the moment in the rush to look good and have a place in the new setup.

 

But the 05:23 from Hereford did operate (and was a nine-car).

 
As flagged yesterday, the 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington service was a five car short-form, as was the first up service of the day, the 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington train.

 

Indeed ... and that sets me going with a whole thought chain about services that call at intermediate stations from Newbury to Taunton and how they *might* look in the future in a regime that has stations at Somerton/Langport and Devizes Gateway, and where extra Westbury -> Reading capacity is provided using a redoubled relief line via Melksham.

 

Yes - it has always been the case that the older generation decries modern youth.   However, the report and prosecution statistics (if I read them right) relate to arrests made and offences proven, and could the dramatic reduction in the numbers relate to how we and the systems have changed and far fewer of the still-occurring-at-the-same-rate incidents are actually reported / investigated?

 

 
With ad driven social media and news media outlets I'd say there's and increased reporting of 'feral children' stories.

In the year ending March 2024, there were around 35,600 proven offences committed by children which resulted in a caution or sentence at court. The number of proven offences was 61% lower than 10 years ago.

There were 58,900 arrests of children in the year ending March 2024. 46% lower than 2014.

So, the perception of an 'increasing prevelence' isn't borne out by the statistics. Even with today's social media and instant news hasn't it always been the case of older generations decrying modern youth?

 
The 18:36 made an additional stop at Kintbury because the 18:08 Pad to Frome was cancelled hence the slight delay arriving into Westbury.

 


Makes sense - 20:07 arrival from Paddington ; connection left at 20:10.   The 18:36 from Paddington is due into Westbury at 19:58 - an official connection with some good advance fares, but all too often leads to a long wait at at Westbury.

 
Bristol Live is carrying the story too, much of it saying the same things but it also goes on to talk about possible resistance from the Port of Bristol.  Councillor Weston observed that there needs to be some give and take and in that respect the balance is somewhat one sided.  Here's the link to the story.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/two-parts-bristol-could-connected-10569881

 
Round and round?  - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwypj9le4j7o

 
St.Erth is like that now. It takes ages for buses to pull off the A30 and back on via the traffic lights and road junction even worse in the summer.
Before the large station car park bus stops were on the A30 with a short walk for the few people that transferred to the train. Buses very rarely needed to stop.

 
Good stuff, BobM ... and I totally agree with there being too many meetings for - err - meetings sake, and too many people not as prepared as they should be for meetings.  The ease of calling an online meeting and the lack of investment in travel time to get there, perhaps, tend to make people not prepare as seriously as they should.

But - there are meetings, and then there are meetings.  I am going along on Thursday evening to a meeting of the Melksham Historical Association which apart from a few announcements will be a talk on "The Trials of the Revd Barnwell". I have done minimal/no preps and don't expect or think I need to. But then Lisa, who is giving the talk, has been building up to it and preparing for a - err - very long time.

Perhaps meetings are like trains - they all have more or less the same basics, but the character varied hugely

 
I can understand both "sides" of this ... it sounds depressingly familiar.  It feels like madness but yet when you talk to the bus companies, you can understand why - at least we can / could locally where we have a similar situation.  That's a bus stop at the station, but it's only used for rail replacement services.  Service buses pass by 150 metres away at the top of Station Approach, though it is 450 metres to the nearest stop (271/2/3) and 550 metres to the stop on the x34. And it's about 650 metres to the Town Bridge.

Diverting the 271/2/3 via the station bus stop would cost somewhere from 3 to 5 minutes. The x34 would be 3 minutes northbound and twice that southbound. And that would mean not only would through passenger journeys be slowed down, but also that an extra vehicle would be needed for the 27x, and an extra vehicle for the x34 - or frequencies reduced and no longer would the services run clockface.

There is - err - some confusion locally about how far from the station it's realistic to have a bus stop / walk.  A Wiltshire Councillor who represents a ward on the 271/2/3 route that's on the opposite side of Melksham to the station tells me that the 450 metre walk from the station to the bus stop is reasonable and should not put anyone off, but the 650 metres to the town bridge and town centre is not a reasonable walk.  My own view is that for a transfer from the bus, this is really too far - especialy as it involves crossing a busy A road at a point that there's no crossing and traffic appears quick and blind, but then the distance to the Town Bridge, which does not involve crossing any roads on the level isn't a problem if you're headed to the Town Centre.

Of course, the look is for solutions. 

* The local authorities (ours, and up north) could cross palms with silver - or perhaps it would need to be gold - to make it commercially worthwhile. 

* A bus service could run that actually terminates at the station, and indeed this is a solution for Melksham.  We lost our 2nd town bus vehicle during covid - "driver shortage" and it never came back - it could so usefully now fill the gap with an hourly route leaving the station just after the train calls, and gettig back there just before the next train.

* Bus stops could be added at the top of Station Approach. Very easy in the x34 both ways, and inbound on the 271/2/3 - in all three cases two traffic lanes, and no need for pedestrians to cross on the level. The fourth is a bit of a problem, and perhaps the outbound bus towards Bath COULD divert down Station Approach at the request of passengers onboard.

I hope and expect that Newsham has various options such as these; I also hope that they can get them sorted in a tiny fraction of the time that we have been pushing, nagging, campaigning for an attractive bus <-> train solution

 
Cross Country is an absolute basket case of a TOC and I’m sure the government is only too happy that it’s one of the last to come back to public ownership so Arriva can continue to carry the can for the absolute state that it’s in.

 
Love the road sign!

 

 

In the 1930s there was a cafe by the fork in the road, ‘a cheap flashy little building'. See here.

 
Press release: new trains, more seats.

Mark

https://press.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/new-chiltern-railways-trains-set-to-unlock-10-000-more-seats-a-day

 
From the BBC:

 

I hadn't read it like that ... and there is absolutely no guarantee of results!   Just making it clear to all readers (including perhaps those who have received a copy of the letter in the process of their work) that this isn't a matter they can defuse with just words, or just by letting time pass and the complaint about the horrendous service they are providing at the moment fading away.

Interesting that as I write this, the 12:17 round trip from Westbury has been cancelled.  The previous train at 09:46 ran, and we'll see about the next train at 14:16.   

 
Sorry Graham, I didn't mean to imply that your considerable and much appreciated efforts won't produce results.