Let me try and explain the eccentricities of Cornwall's buses.

First are the commercial service all week but also provide some limited community paid coverage on Sat and Sun.

The GoAhead operation (branded Transport for Cornwall which is also confusingly used by First but less prominently) is the subsidy paid for rural and town service provider.

First also provide most of the long distance education contract buses (Tintagel to Truro College for example)

There are therefore two distinct options on most routes including Newquay - Truro (Falmouth). First have provided a through service between NQY and FAL BUT in the past four years construction of the A30 Dual Carriageway has made this impossible and the decision was made two split the service in Truro in the Summer Months. Indeed with the road now open First have decided for this summer to run two services again instead of the through service that was run over the winter.

So your options between NQY and FAL are offered by both companies, the GoAhead and the First Versions. 

Of course, no blame attached to their daughter?.....and all down to TfL to protect people from their own actions.

It would serve us right if TfL just pulled all night tube services off again. We managed without them in the past. Or people take (sole) responsibility for what they stick into their bodies - legal & not so legal.

And all sympathy ought to go to the poor driver....not the (ir)responsible adult in this story.

Sorry, but stories like this make by blood boil. No one's fault other than the deceased person. She *chose* to walk off the end of the platform, nothing imbibed or otherwise made her do it. You are still in charge of your senses, so know what you are doing.

It needs to be used carefully and is far more relevant during planned engineering works.   Today's disruption turned out to be over almost before it began, with a handful of long distance expresses running via Swindon rather than Newbury, and as far as I can tell the biggest service disruption was a four hour gap each way on trains between Westbury an Swindon.

Unless these IETs stop at roughly the same time as timetabled services however (and I doubt they'd be advertised given the necessarily ad hoc nature), wouldn't they largely find an empty platform at Melksham due to people having drifted off/not expected to find a train stopping at a given time?

I suppose some hardy souls may hang around in the hope of something stopping!

Ms Cunningham's family say there were "multiple chances" for people to intervene.

Typical "because of a problem on another line we're cancelling the trains on your line".

Hopefully, we have a better solution for the future ...only yesterday, I was photographing the new Stop boards for IETs at Melksham, and a train manager was telling me how they've had a circular around telling staff that the long distance trains can stop here.  Ideal for the sort of thing we have going on today? If the none-stop Taunton to Reading services run via Bristol and Bath, the semi-fast can run via Westbury and serve Trowbridge and Melksham in addition to Castle Cary and Westbury.  But it will take a bit of getting used to - oy, anyone in GWR reading this 

Sarah Cunningham was hit by a Northern line train in November

Transport for London (TfL) has been urged to deliver a "concrete plan" to prevent intoxicated passengers being killed on its network following the accidental death of an artist in a Tube tunnel after a night out in London.

Sarah Cunningham, 31, was hit by a Northern line train after stepping on to the track and walking down a tunnel at Chalk Farm station in north London at about 03:30 GMT on 2 November.

Issuing a prevention of future deaths report, senior coroner for Inner North London Mary Hassell said "the risk to the [intoxicated] individual is not necessarily at the forefront of TfL corporate thinking".

TfL says "it will take the time to properly consider any recommendations made".

Ms Cunningham, who had used cocaine and ketamine before her death, was not suicidal, a coroner at Poplar Coroner's Court ruled.

After five minutes in the entrance hall, a member of the public let her through the barriers which had been left unstaffed because one worker was on a break while another took an urgent phone call and was not monitoring the CCTV, the inquest heard.

A member of staff later checked the platform Ms Cunningham had been on and assumed she had boarded a train - but she had walked along the tracks into a tunnel where she was hit by the northbound train 18 minutes later. Her body was found two days later about 245ft (75m) into the tunnel.

The coroner wrote: "Realistically, some London Underground passengers will be intoxicated, and that has to inform TfL's corporate planning. I heard that there was a TfL investigation following Sarah Cunningham's death, but the learning from that appears at present to be somewhat aspirational, without a concrete plan."


Sarah Cunningham was killed in a tunnel near Chalk Farm station

Ms Cunningham's family say there were "multiple chances" for people to intervene.

Lawyers from Leigh Day, instructed by the family, say they are "concerned that Transport for London does not appear to have committed to any actions to reduce the risks of this happening again in future". They added the family "hopes that TfL use it as a real opportunity to make meaningful changes so that individuals are safe on the transport network".

The coroner wrote that "passenger intoxication is recognised as a risk to London Underground staff" by TfL. She added: "Extreme intoxication is also known to be a risk to the individual who is intoxicated. However, it struck me that the risk to the individual is not necessarily at the forefront of TfL corporate thinking."

Claire Mann, TfL's chief operating officer said: "Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Sarah Cunningham, who tragically died at Chalk Farm Tube station on 2 November 2024. We are supporting the coroner in relation to the inquest into this incident and we have carried out our own internal investigation, which we have shared with the coroner. We recognise the important role our staff play in protecting customers from harm and we will always take action to learn from incidents and improve operational safety."

TfL has until 16 June to respond to the coroner.

Guess what?

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington
Due to a points failure between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 40 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure at Slough West the line between Reading to London Paddington will be heavily delayed.
There is also a points failure at Maidenhead East causing delays.
Last Updated:25/04/2025 15:06

A PROSPECTIVE passenger can walk into any station booking-office in Great Britain and purchase a ticket for practically any other station in the country - and that ticket will take him right through to his destination, irrespective of the ownership of the lines over which he may have to travel.

The traveller may buy a ticket at Dover, on the Southern Railway, for - say, Oban, served by the LMS. How is the ticket money shared?

Again, a train of goods wagons on any line will often bear the initials of all the railway companies - GWR, LMS, LNER, SR. How is carriage paid for on the goods in these wagons - running as they do over the lines of other companies?

In both instances settlement is made through the Railway Clearing House. The story of the RCH, as it is usually known, goes back to the very early days of railway operation. At first there was no provision for through booking by passengers. It was not possible to send goods throughout the journey in the same wagon.

The travelling public soon began to demand the convenience of through booking. Merchants, too, dissatisfied with the loss and delay occasioned by transhipping goods from one company’s wagons to those of another, agitated for a system of through-invoicing for goods traffic. The railways were forced to give facilities to meet the general demand, but for a time the difficulties of settlement between the various companies were a bar to progress.

Rail bosses have moved to reassure people over their plans for a historic footbridge in a Cheshire town.

An online petition had launched by residents in Nantwich in a bid to preserve the railway bridge on Wellington Road. The petition describes it as a "symbolic part of Nantwich's heritage" and calls for it to be preserved.

Network Rail have now confirmed it was their intention to focus on repairing and renovating the bridge rather than replacing it. "We appreciate the fondness for, and aesthetic importance of, the bridge at Nantwich," they said. "The bridge features in our future plans for delivery in 2027/28, but specific dates are yet to be confirmed."



The petition said any proposal to replace the bridge would risk erasing "a significant part of our town's history" as well as its sentimental value. "We wish to highlight, that similar historic structures, when well-maintained can continue to serve their primary functions," it added.

They said the town was renowned for its beautiful and historically significant architecture, and urged people to "ensure preservation of our past while we move into the future".

But that's a SH bus ... and it was an SD.  Got to consider the little darlings (who were, it must be said, well behaved on the 88)

The 91 10 mins later would only have taken you 50-55 mins

The 91 10 mins later would only have taken you 50-55 mins

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham
Due to a safety inspection of the track at Pewsey the line towards Reading is closed. Disruption is expected until 13:00 25/04.
Train services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham have been cancelled.
Customer Advice
Due to a safety inspection of the track, all train services between Westbury, Melksham and Swindon are cancelled.

Customers travelling between Westbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Swindon are advised to change at Bath Spa.

Melksham is not being served by trains for the time being. Road transport is being organised.

((A section of track between Westbury and Pewsey is being examined for a possible defect. As a precaution we are not currently running trains along this stretch. This affects services to London Paddington from Devon and Cornwall. Where possible trains will divert, taking an alternative, slightly longer route. Where this is not possible, train services may be terminated at short notice.))

Journey check looking good today - flagging up just two cancellations across the whole GWR area.   Guess where


OK - so I notice a day when we are the only cancellations ... but this is not a unique occurrence!

The shelter there is at the point at which passengers would once have found the long (in several senses - of considerable length and also long-gone) footbridge to Eastgate. The shelter itself does not appear to be a relic of those days, mind.