Farringdon Station
After visiting the works at Crossrail, I went to have look at Farringdon station on the Metropolitan Line.
Note how the new station is coming on.
The London Aquatic Centre Is Changing!
The London Aquatic Centre is changing.
It will be opened fully in the summer of 2014.
Note how a lot of the seats have been reserved.
The picture was taken from a train on the East Anglian main line.
It’s Not Just The Dutch That Get Rail Ticketing Wrong
We always think of the Swiss as being clever and efficient, but according to this report on the BBC web site, they seem to have trumped the Dutch by bringing in a ticketing system, that is even worse, than the one I described here.
One thing that never seems to work with these systems, but does usually work well in the UK, is how the system deals with the occasional problem or a traveller, like the man I met, who was using a London bus for the first time in his sixties, despite living there for years. In his case, the probably very friendly bus driver was able to help him out.
I’ve had a case on the train from London to Ipswich, where I had got on the train with the wrong ticket. I can’t remember exactly why, but it may have been that I’d punched the wrong button on the machine, when I bought the ticket. In Switzerland, now, that would now mean a fine of £133, but the inspector sold me the appropriate upgrade and even took into account my Freedom Pass and Railcard. Ticket inspectors are the first line in both protecting the revenue and making the customers happy.
Let’s hope British train companies don’t do any of these.
1. Bring in swingeing fines for genuine mistakes.
2. Abandon the simple orange tickets that everyone understands.
3. Insist that everybody has a smart phone.
Point two has so many simple advantages other than the obvious one of familiarity. Imagine your ninety-year-old mother lives in Edinburgh and you want her to come to you by train. You just post her the ticket and seat reservation and tell her to get to Waverley at the appropriate time. It usually works well, as the tickets are of a size and type, that don’t get lost and are easily understood. They can also be easily shown to staff, which can’t always be said for a display on a smart phone.
The Rail Industry And The Samaritans Get Together To Cut Suicides
One of the most common ways of committing suicide these days, is to jump in front of a train. It happens about 250 times a year. But this article about the Samaritans and the rail industry getting together, shows that everybody is concerned and taking action.
We need more initiatives like this.
Fyra Replaced By Slow Train To The Hague
This article from the Europe by Rail web site is a lesson to all those politicians and civil servants, who think they understand the transport needs of the general public. This is the first paragraph.
The Belgian Railway authorities this afternoon announced the return of old-style InterCity services from Brussels to stations in the Netherlands. This is to provide some kind of replacement for the short-lived FYRA service, introduced in December 2012 and then withdrawn last month.
The service has actually lasted less than two months.
There is also a sting in the tail of the article.
Meanwhile, coach operators have spotted a gap in this busy cross-border market. One company starts a new express link from Rotterdam to Brussels early next month.
After all, the UK has a large network of long distance coach services that compete with rail, so why not between Brussels and big centres of population in The Netherlands/
Railways In Afghanistan
In Modern Railways this month, there is an informative article about how they are starting to build railways from scratch in that trouble country.
Apparently, they never developed a railway system, like neighbouring countries, and only now, with the need to remove vast amounts of natural resources around and out of the country, that the railways are being proposed.
It is a daunting task, made worse by the mountainous terrain and the fact that surrounding countries have a variety of different gauges.
Let’s hope the engineers succeed in their aims, as it might bring some wealth, prosperity and freedom to the country. There is a Wikipedia article, which gives more details.
What’s This All About?
I went to lunch at Leon in Kings Cross station today and saw this small crowd afterwards on the concourse.
Does J K Rowling realise what she’s started? I suspect her bank account does!
A Row In Radlett
There is the mother of all battles starting in Radlett about a proposed road and rail freight depot.
Underlying all of this is the need for suitable sites for this close to the M25 to satisfy London’s freight transport needs. and of course there are few sites available.
But then London has a serious freight problem and short of forcibly moving half the population out, you will not cut the amount of freight going into the City.
So there will be pain somewhere!
Do We Have A Death Wish?
After the death of my wife and son, some medics thought I might be suicidal. I don’t think I ever thought about it, although I was pretty depressed by myself in hospital in Hong Kong, until my son arrived.
But in some ways today, showed me a dark side, that I keep very much under control.
As a child, I didn’t like the Underground and especially, when I was waiting for a train in a tunnel station like Wood Green, I’d tend to back onto the wall, with my hands over my ears. I still hold back on the Tube, but often these days there is an empty seat, to sit safely. I’m probably just being prdent these days.
On New Barnet station, whilst waiting for my train, a couple of fast trains ran through and they scared the wits out of me. So I retreated into the shop.
I do wonder how many commit suicide in such a situation on the spur of the moment.
Thinking about it, I do wonder, whether it’s just the survival genes taking over. After all, we all have a lot of those, as those that don’t would have died out years ago in the caves.
let’s face it, it also helps you do extraordinary things. Just look at the story of the baby rescued from the dock in Somerset, by the 63-year-old, George Reeder.
The Real Arguments For HS2 Start Now!
The government has announced the route of HS2 this morning, as is detailed in this article on the BBC.
There is going to be masses of opposition.
In fact, I think that the amount of opposition is such, that the line will not get built. certainly, as I look forward at 65, I doubt I’ll ever see it.
Let’s face it, if you had a referendum, which asked if we wanted a high speed rail or more motorways, the man stuck in the jam on the M1 would vote for the roads.
HS2 also doesn’t help our biggest transport problem of the next twenty years. Or at least not directly! How do we get all the freight containers, to and from the major ports like Southampton, Felixstowe and Thames Haven? It deals with them indirectly, by making more paths available on the classic lines to the North and Scotland, especially if a few strategic freight by-passes are built and lines like Ipswich to Nuneaton are electrified.
There also seems to be a lots of opponents saying that London and the South East will be the biggest beneficiary. So perhaps we should built it from Birmingham to Scotland? Or at least that should be the first phase to open!
There is the classic opportunity here for a political party to fight an election on an anti-HS2 platform. I don’t think, any of the three major parties would do this, but who’s to say, some smaller party wouldn’t? After all, UKIP has said no to the project in this article on its web site.
The Anonymous Widower 